I-NRLF 


*B   2Mfl    522 


3 


H. 


• 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


ENTERPRISE,  INDUSTRY, 


AND 


ART  OF  MAN. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
THOMAS,    COWPERTHWAIT  &   CO. 


Jc=>asr\'\        i  C-J 


ENTERPRISE, 

INDUSTRY  AND  ART 

OF    MAN, 

AS   DISPLAYED    IN 

FISHING,   HUNTING,  COMMERCE, 

NAVIGATION,   MINING, 

AGRICULTURE  AND  MANUFACTURES. 

BY   THE   AUTHOR   OF 

PETER  PARLEY'S  TALES. 


'The  world  must  be  circumnavigated  before  a  washerwoman  can  take 
her  tea." 


PHILADELPHIA: 
THOMAS,   COWPERTHWAIT  &   CO. 


Printed  by  T.  K.  &  P.  G.  Collins. 


PREFACE. 


I  WAS  dozing  by  my  evening  fire-side,  when  one  of  those  hasty 
visions  passed  before  my  mind,  which  sometimes  seem  to  reveal 
the  contents  of  volumes  in  the  space  of  a  few  seconds.  It  appeared 
as  if  every  article  of  furniture  in  the  room  became  suddenly  ani- 
mated with  life,  and  endowed  with  the  gift  of  speech ;  and  that 
each  one  came  forward  to  solicit  my  attention  and  beseech  me  to 
write  its  life  and  adventures. 

The  portly  piano,  advancing  with  a  sort  of  elephantine  step, 
informed  me  that  its  rosewood  covering  was  violently  torn  from 
its  birth-place  in  the  forests  of  Brazil;  its  massive  legs  of  pine 
grew  in  the  wilds  of  Maine  ;  the  iron  which  formed  its  frame 
was  dug  from  a  mine  in  Sweden;  its  strings  were  fabricated  at 
Rouen ;  the  brazen  rods  of  the  pedals  were  made  of  copper  from 
Cornwall  mixed  with  silver  from  the  mines  of  Potosi ;  the  cover- 
ing of  the  keys  was  formed  of  the  tusks  of  elephants  from  Africa  ; 
the  varnish  was  from  India  ;  the  hinges  from  Birmingham,  and  the 
whole  were  wrought  into  their  present  form  at  the  world-renowned 
establishment  of  Messrs.  Chickering  &  Co.,  Washington  street, 
Boston. 

While  I  was  musing  on  the  singular  fact  that  the  four  quarters 
of  the  globe  had  been  ransacked  for  the  materials  of  which  to 
construct  this  single  instrument,  I  heard  an  extraordinary  rattling 
in  the  china  closet.  On  opening  the  door  and  looking  in,  I  beheld 
with  amazement,  every  article, — plates,  platters,  bowls  and  tumblers, 
castors  and  cream-pots,  salvers  and  salt-dishes — attitudinizing,  as 
if  inspired  with  some  extraordinary  emotion.  All  began  to  speak 
at  once,  and  a  confusion,  worse  than  that  of  Babel,  saluted  my  ears. 
Amid  the  din,  I  could  gather  only  a  few  detached  sounds.  The 
set  of  phials  in  the  castor-stand  seemed  to  have  the  advantage  of 
lungs,  and  I  therefore  gathered  the  following  sentences :  "  I,"  said 
Mustard,  "was  raised  by  an  old  woman  in  France,  and  manufac- 
tured in  Paris."  "And  I,"  said  Pepper,  "was  cultivated  by  the 
swarthy  Malays  of  Sumatra,  and  have  made  a  voyage  half  round  the 
world  to  get  here  !'  "  And  I,"  said  Ketchup,  "  came  into  existence 
as  a  mushroom,  and  was  pickled  by  Underwood  of  Boston."  "  And 
I,"  said  Soy, "  was  reared  and  manufactured  in  Japan !  "  "  And  J," 


M36811O 


IV  PREFACE. 

said  Sweet  Oil,  "  came  from  the  sunny  climes  of  Italy."  "  And  I," 
said  Vinegar,  with  a  scowl  and  a  scream,  "  I  came  from  hard  cider !  " 

Bewildered  by  the  clamors  of  the  china  closet,  I  shut  the  door  in 
the  face  of  the  insurgents  ;  but  if  I  had  silenced  one  source  of  an- 
noyance, another  was  before  me.  The  carpet  rose  and  fell  like  waves 
beneath  my  feet,  and  at  length  one  of  the  large  circular  figures  stood 
erect,  and  with  goggling  eyes  and  enormous  mouth,  addressed  me  as 
follows  : — "  I  was  born  upon  the  backs  of  sheep  that  were  fed  in 
Asia  Minor ;  I  was  spun  by  those  who  pray  five  times  a  day  to 
Mahomet ;  the  colors  that  decorate  me  were  gathered  from  the 
three  kingdoms  of  nature,  and  I  was  woven  iu  a  machine,  the  inven- 
tion of  which  consumed  twenty  centuries  !  " 

Scarcely  was  this  speech  ended,  when  I  saw  the  mirror  swaying 
rapidly  back  and  forth,  and  after  a  moment  it  exclaimed :  "  Listen 
to  me  !  The  glass  which  forms  my  face  was  once  the  waste  sand 
of  the  pit :  this  was  purified  and  exalted  by  fire.  I  was  then  pol- 
ished by  the  artisans  of  Paris.  The  quicksilver  which  gives  me  my 
magical  power,  was  dug  from  the  mines  of  Almaden,  a  thousand  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth :  the  gold  which  gilds  my  frame 
was  washed  from  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon  by  the  Niger,  and 
having  passed  through  the  purse  of  the  king  of  Ashantee,  was 
beaten  to  the  thinness  of  the  thirty  thousandth  part  of  an  inch." 
Hardly  was  this  burst  of  rhetoric  ended,  when  the  Argand  lamp  de- 
clared that  its  oil  once  dwelt  in  the  head  of  a  whale  seventy  feet  in 
length,  and  which  had  ploughed  the  Pacific  for  half  a  century.  A 
book  that  lay  upon  the  table,  spoke  of  containing  in  its  leaves  a  va- 
riety of  rags,  gathered  from  the  four  winds,  each  of  which  could  tell 
a  tale :  and  a  sofa  said  something  of  hair  from  the  tails  of  wild 
horses  caught  on  the  Pampas  of  South  America,  and  lofty  trees  of 
mahogany  cut  down  amid  the  mighty  forests  of  Campeachy.  The 
scene  grew  more  and  more  bewildering — and  as  each  object  seemed 
to  be  endowed  with  a  fiercer  aspect  and  a  louder  tone,  my  heart 
beat  violently  and  I  awoke !  Looking  around,  I  saw  before  me  a 
note  from  the  printing  office,  which  ran  thus : — 

"  Dear  Sir, — Please  furnish  us  copy  for  the  preface  to  the  c  Enter- 
prise, Industry,  and  Art  of  Man.5  Yours,  J.  R." 

If  the  kind  and  considerate  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  a  pre- 
face, though  placed  at  the  beginning,  is  the  last  thing  written  ;  and 
if,  moreover,  he  has  the  patience  to  peruse  the  following  pages — he 
may  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  preceding  dream  was  neither 
unnatural,  nor  a  very  unapt  interpretation  of  the  contents  of  the 
volume. 


CONTENTS. 


FISHERIES,      .         •       t. 7 

Whale  Fishery, .        .7 

S^al  Fishery, 49 

Cod  Fishery, £6 

Herring  Fishery, 63 

Mackerel  Fishery, 67 

Pearl  Fishery, 67 

Coral  Fishery, 70 

General  remarks  on  Fisheries,        ....  73 

HUNTING, 74 

Cattle  Hunting, 74 

Buffalo  Hunting, 95 

Bear  Hunting, 103 

The  Fur  Trade, 116 

Bird  Catching,        .                          .  125 

COMMERCE  AND  NAVIGATION, 135 

Discoveries  and  Commercial  Establishments  of  the  Por- 
tuguese in  India, 143 

Voyages  and  Discoveries  of  Columbus,  .  .  .  156 
Voyage  and  Discoveries  of  Magellan,  .  .  .  159 

Voyage  of  Sir  Francis  Drake, 171 

Voyages  of  the  English  toward  the  North  Pole,  .  178 
Voyages  of  the  Dutch  toward  the  North  Pole,  .  .  186 
Spanish  American  Commerce,  ....  205 

English  East  India  Commerce, 210 

Commerce  of  the  North-west  Coast  of  America,  .  215 
Commerce  by  Caravans, 219 


1* 


VI  CONTENTS. 

MINING, 236 

Coal  Mines, 247 

Iron  Mines, 262 

Silver  Mines, 269 

Gold  Mines, 276 

Platina  Mines,  .  277 

Diamond  Mines, 278 

Salt  Mines, 285 

Mines  of  Tin,  Lead,  Quicksilver,  &c.,   .        .        .      288 
General  Remarks  on  Mining, 290 

WOOD-CUTTING,  294 

Lumbering  in  Maine, 294 

Logwood, 298 

Mahogany, 302 

AGRICULTURE, 305 

Tea, 309 

Sugar, 312 

Coffee, 314 

Tobacco,        .        . 318 

Cotton, 322 

Wool, 324 

Products  of  the  United  States,   .        .        .        .        .326 

MANUFACTURES, 327 

Cotton, 327 

Manufactures  of  Lowell, 328 

Woollen  Manufactures, 329 

Silk, 330 

Linen, 330 

Iron, 331 

CONCLUSION, '     .        .        .        .333 


FISHERIES. 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY 


IT  is  the  opinion  of  most  writers  on  the  subject  of 
the  Whale  Fishery,  that  the  Biscayans  were  the  first 
people  who  exercised  their  courage  in  attacking-  the 
great  monster  of  the  deep.  These  people,  dwelling 
along  the  sea-coast,  were  chiefly  fishermen.  A  par- 
ticular species  of  whale  used  to  be  a  frequent  visiter 
to  the  shores  of  France  and  Spain,  and,  in  pursuit  of 
herrings  and  other  small  fry,  would  naturally  cause 
serious  damage  among  the  nets  of  the  fishermen  of 


S  THE     WHALE    FISHERY. 

Biscay  and  Gascony.  Concern  for  the  preservation 
of  their  nets,  which  constituted  their  principal  prop- 
erty, would  naturally  suggest  the  necessity  of  driving 
these  intruders  from  their  coast. 

"When  the  Basques  and  Biscayans  first  ventured  to 
attack  a  whale  with  their  spears  and  arrows,  they 
were  doubtless  surprised  to  find  that,  instead  of  being 
the  ferocious  and  formidable  monster  which  they  had 
imagined  him,  he  was  in  fact  timorous  and  compara- 
tively inoffensive.  This  observation  doubtless  had  a 
tendency  so  far  to  encourage  them,  that  some  of  the 
most  adventurous  were  induced  to  approach  a  whale 
in  the  extravagant  hope  of  vanquishing  him  in  fight. 
Observing  that  after  receiving  their  weapons  he  evinced 
no  intention  of  resistance,  but  on  the  contrary,  imme- 
diately dived  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  that  on 
his  return  to  the  surface,  he  was  quite  exhausted  and 
apparently  in  a  dying  state,  they  doubtless  soon  con- 
ceived the  possibility  of  so  entangling  him  as  to  en- 
sure his  capture. 

The  precise  period  at  which  the  whale  fishery  thus 
originated,  is  not  known ;  but  as  early  as  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  Biscayans  pursued  the  whale  into 
distant  seas.  The  English,  in  1594,  fitted  out  an  ex- 
pedition to  Cape  Breton,  to  fish  for  the  whale  and  the 
walrus  or  sea-horse,  and  in  succeeding  years  pursued 
the  latter  into  high  northern  latitudes.  In  1611,  the 
English  first  attacked  the  whale  near  the  shores  of 
Spitzbergen.  After  this,  the  Dutch  and  other  nations 
of  Europe  became  participators  in  the  risks  and  ad- 
vantages of  these  northern  expeditions. 

The  Greenland  whale  fishery  was  not  an  imme- 
diate result  of  the  discovery  of  Spitzbergen,  but  arose 


THE     WHALE     FISHERY.  9 

out  of  the  enterprising  character  of  the  adventurers 
employed  in  commercial  speculations,  at  this  period. 
Whatever  importance  was  attached  to  the  discovery 
of  this  frozen  region,  its  value  was  eclipsed  by 
that  of  the  whale  fishery  in  the  prolific  seas  adjacent, 
as  it  proved,  in  a  short  time,  the  most  lucrative,  and 
the  most  important  branch  of  national  commerce 
which  had  yet  been  offered  to  the  industry  of  man. 
The  whales  captured  by  the  Biscayans  were  not  so 
large  as  those  taken  in  the  Polar  Seas,  nor  so  produc- 
tive of  oil.  Moreover  they  soon  ceased  to  frequent 
the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  the  fishers  were  obliged  to 
pursue  their  prey  along  the  banks  of  Newfoundland 
and  the  coast  of  Iceland,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
French  whale  fishery  greatly  declined. 

The  voyages  of  the  Dutch  and  English  to  the 
Northern  Ocean,  in  the  attempt  to  discover  a  western 
passage  through  it  to  India,  though  they  failed  of  their 
main  object,  laid  open  the  haunts  of  the  whale.  The 
companions  of  Barentz,  who  discovered  Spitzbergen 
in  1596,  and  of  Henry  Hudson,  who  soon  after  ex- 
plored the  same  seas,  represented  to  their  countrymen 
the  amazing  number  of  whales  with  which  they  were 
crowded.  Vessels  were  in  consequence  fitted  out  for 
the  northern  whale  fishery  by  the  English  and  Dutch, 
the  harpooners  and  a  part  of  the  crew  being  Biscayans. 
They  did  not,  however,  confine  their  efforts  to  a  fair 
competition  with  each  other  as  fishers.  The  English 
Muscovy  Company  obtained  a  Royal  Charter,  pro- 
hibiting the  ships  of  all  other  nations  from  fishing  in 
the  seas  round  Spitzbergen,  on  pretence  of  its  having 
been  discovered  first  by  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby.  The 


10  THE    WHALE     FISHERY. 

Company  finding  the  Dutch  whalers  frequenting  this 
neighborhood,  attempted  to  vindicate  their  pretensions 
by  force,  and  several  hostile  encounters  took  place 
between  the  vessels  of  the  two  nations.  The  convic- 
tion at  length  became  general  that  there  was  room 
enough  for  all  parties  in  the  northern  seas,  and  in 
order  to  avoid  the  chance  of  coming  into  collision  with 
each  other,  they  parcelled  Spitzbergen  and  the  adja- 
cent ocean  into  districts  which  were  respectively 
assigned  to  the  English,  Dutch,  Hamburgians,  French, 
Danes,  &c.  The  Dutch  being  thus  left  to  prosecute 
the  whale  fishery  unmolested,  soon  acquired  a  decided 
superiority  over  all  their  competitors. 

"When  the  Europeans  first  began  to  prosecute  this 
fishery  on  the  coast  of  Spitzbergen,  whales  were 
everywhere  found  in  vast  numbers.  Ignorant  of  the 
strength  and  stratagems  of  the  formidable  foe  by  whom 
they  were  now  assailed,  instead  of  betraying  any 
symptoms  of  fear,  they  surrounded  the  ships  and 
crowded  all  the  bays.  Their  capture  was  in  conse- 
quence a  very  easy  task,  and  the  whalers  killed  many 
which  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  in  consequence 
of  their  ships  being  full.  While  the  fishes  were  thus 
easily  obtained,  it  was  the  practice  to  boil  the  blubber 
on  shore  in  the  north,  and  to  bring  home  only  the  oil 
and  the  whalebone.  Perhaps  nothing  can  give  a  more 
vivid  idea  of  the  extent  and  importance  of  the  Dutch 
fishery  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  than 
the  fact  that  the  men  established  a  considerable  village, 
the  houses  of  which  were  previously  prepared  in  Hol- 
land, on  the  northern  coast  of  Spitzbergen.  This  place 
was  called  by  the  appropriate  name  of  Smeerenberg  or 


THE     WHALE     FISHERY.  11 

"Grease-mountain."  It  was  the  grand  rendezvous  of 
the  Dutch  whale  ships,  and  was  amply  provided  with 
boilers,  tanks,  and  every  kind  of  apparatus  requisite 
for  preparing  the  oil  and  the  bone.  The  fleets  of 
whalers  were  attended  by  a  number  of  provision  ships, 
the  cargoes  of  which  were  landed  at  Smeerenberg, 
and  this  place  abounded  during  the  busy  season,  with 
well-furnished  shops,  good  inns,  &c.,  so  that  many  of 
the  conveniences  and  enjoyments  of  Amsterdam  were 
found  within  about  eleven  degrees  of  the  north  pole ! 
It  is  particularly  mentioned  that  the  sailors  and  others 
were  supplied  with  what  a  Dutchman  regards  as  a 
very  great  luxury,  namely,  hot  rolls  for  breakfast,  and 
that  a  signal  was  given  by  blowing  a  horn,  when  they 
were  ready  to  be  drawn  from  the  oven.  Smeerenberg 
was  founded  about  the  same  period  with  the  colony 
of  Batavia,  and  it  was  for  a  considerable  time  doubt- 
ful whether  the  former  was  not  the  more  important 
establishment. 

During  the  flourishing  period  of  the  Dutch  fishery, 
the  quantity  of  oil  made  at  Smeerenberg  was  so  great 
that  it  could  not  be  carried  home  by  the  whale  ships, 
and  every  year  vessels  were  sent  out  in  ballast  to  assist 
in  importing  the  produce  of  this  valuable  fishery. 
But  the  same  cause  that  had  destroyed  the  fishery  of 
the  Biscayans  ruined  that  of  Spitzbergen.  The  whales 
became  scarce,  shy,  and  difficult  to  catch.  They  re- 
treated first  to  the  open  seas,  and  then  to  the  great 
banks  of  ice  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland.  When 
the  site  of  the  fishery  had  been  thus  removed  to  a 
distance  from  Spitzbergen,  it  was  found  most  econom- 
ical to  send  the  blubber  directly  to  Holland.  Smeer- 


12  THE     WHALE     FISHERY. 

enberg  was,  in  consequence,  totally  deserted,  and  its 
exact  position  is  now  difficult  to  determine. 

The  right  to  carry  on  the  fishery  was,  in  1614,  grant- 
ed by  the  Dutch  government,  exclusively  to  a  com- 
pany formed  for  that  purpose.  In  consequence  of  this 
monopoly,  the  fishery  though  very  extensive,  was  not 
highly  profitable.  But  in  1642  the  business  was 
thrown  open  to  all  adventurers,  and  soon,  by  a  vast 
increase  of  profit,  exhibited  a  striking  example  of  the 
benefits  of  free  competition.  The  private  whale  ships 
of  the  Dutch  were  fitted  out  on  a  plan  that  secured 
the  utmost  economy  and  vigilance  on  the  part  of 
every  one  connected  with  them.  The  hull  of  the  ves- 
sel was  furnished  by  an  individual,  who  commonly 
acted  as  captain ;  a  sailmaker  supplied  the  sails ;  a 
cooper  the  casks,  &c.  The  parties  engaged  as  adven- 
turers in  the  undertaking.  The  cargo  being  brought 
to  Holland  and  disposed  of,  each  person  shared  in  the 
produce  according  to  his  proportion  of  the  outfit.  The 
crew  were  engaged  on  the  same  principle,  so  that 
every  one  had  a  motive  to  exert  himself,  to  see  that 
all  unnecessary  expenses  were  avoided.  The  Dutch 
whale  fishery  was  in  its  most  flourishing  state  about 
the  year  1680,  at  which  time  it  employed  260  ships 
and  14,000  sailors.  At  present  it  is  entirely  extinct : 
in  1828  a  solitary  ship  sailed  from  Holland,  being  the 
last  attempt  of  that  nation  to  prosecute  a  trade  for 
which  they  were  once  so  distinguished. 

The  English  whale  fishery,  like  that  of  Holland, 
was  originally  carried  on  by  an  exclusive  association. 
The  Muscovy  Company  was  indeed  speedily  driven 
from  the  field,  but  it  was  immediately  succeeded  by 


THE     WHALE     FISHERY.  13 

others  which  did  not  prove  more  fortunate.  In  1725 
the  South  Sea  Company  embarked  largely  in  the 
business  and  prosecuted  it  for  eight  years,  when,  having 
lost  a  large  sum,  they  abandoned  it.  But  the  British 
government,  judging  it  highly  important  to  suppoit 
this  trade,  granted,  in  1732,  a  bounty  of  a  pound  ster- 
ling a  ton  to  every  ship  of  above  200  tons'  burthen 
engaged  in  it.  In  1749  this  bounty  was  doubled 
Many  ships  were  fitted  out,  as  much  for  the  purpose 
of  catching  the  bounty  as  of  catching  whales.  Deceiv 
ed  by  the  prosperous  appearance  of  the  fishery,  the.? 
government  imagined  it  was  firmly  established,  and  in 
1775  the  bounty  was  reduced  to  30  shillings,  which 
caused  the  trade  to  fall  off  nearly  two-thirds  in  five 
years.  The  bounty  continued  to  fluctuate  from  40  to 
20  shillings  tilt  1824  when  it  entirely  ceased. 

The  seas  between  Spitzbergen  and  Greenland  are 
now  nearly  abandoned  by  the  whalers,  who  have 
changed  their  fishing  ground  to  Davis'  Straits  and 
Baffin's  Bay,  and  the  sea  which  washes  the  coast  of 
West  Greenland.  The  Dutch  whalers  first  began  to 
frequent  Davis'  Straits  in  1719,  and  as  the  whales 
had  not  before  that  time  been  pursued  into  this  vast 
recess,  they  were  found  in  greater  numbers  than  in  the 
waters  around  Spitzbergen.  It  was  not  till  a  compara- 
tively late  period  that  Davis'  Straits  began  to  be  fre- 
quented by  English  whalers,  and  even  so  late  as  1820, 
when  Captain  Scoresby  published  his  valuable  work 
on  the  whale  fishery,  the  Greenland  Sea  was  the 
most  frequented.  But,  within  a  few  years  the  Green- 
land fishery  has  been  almost  entirely  abandoned.  The 
various  discoveries  made  by  Parry  and  Ross  in  the 
xvin. — 2 


14  THE     WHALE     FISHERY. 

seas  and  inlets  to  the  west  of  Davis'  Straits  and 
Baffin's  Bay,  have  made  the  fishers  acquainted  with 
several  new  and  advantageous  places  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  their  business.  What  further  revolutions  the 
northern  whale  fishery  may  be  destined  to  undergo, 
it  is  impossible  to  foresee ;  but  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  same  results  that  have  happened  else- 
where, will  occur  in  Davis'  Straits,  and  that  it  will  be 
necessary  to  pursue  the  whale  to  new,  and  perhaps  to 
still  more  inaccessible  haunts.  The  sea  in  these 
straits  is  less  incommoded  with  field  ice  than  the 
Greenland  and  Spitzbergen  waters,  but  it  abounds 
with  icebergs ;  and  the  fishery  carried  on  in  Baffin's 
Bay  and  Lancaster  Sound,  is  more  dangerous  perhaps 
than  any  that  has  hitherto  been  attempted. 

The  British  ships  employed  in  the  "northern  whale 
fishery,  amounted,  in  1789,  to  161 ;  at  present,  they 
do  not  exceed  half  that  number.  The  business  has 
for  some  time,  partaken  more  of  the  nature  of  a  lot- 
tery than  of  a  regular  industrial  pursuit.  Frequently 
the  ships  do  not  procure  above  half  a  cargo,  and 
sometimes  nothing  at  all.  The  risk  of  shipwreck  is 
also  very  great. 

Before  proceeding  farther  in  our  history  of  the 
whale  fishery,  it  may  be  well  to  give  a  short  descrip- 
tion of  the  animal,  and  the  methods  of  pursuing  and 
capturing  him.  There  are  two  species  of  this  mon- 
ster of  the  deep  which  are  valuable  to  the  fisher,  the 
common  Greenland,  or  right  whale,  as  he  is  termed  by 
the  sailors,  and  the  spermaceti  whale.  The  former, 
when  full  grown,  varies  in  length  from  fifty  to  sixty-five 
feet,  and  sometimes  reaches  even  eighty  feet ;  its  great- 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  15 

est  circumference  is  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet.  It  is 
thickest  a  little  behind  the  fins,  or  in  the  middle,  from 
Whence  it  gradually  tapers  in  a  conical  form,  towards 
the  tail,  and  slightly  towards  the  head.  Its  form  is 
cylindrical  from  the  back  to  within  ten  feet  of  the  tail, 
beyond  which  it  becomes  somewhat  quadrangular. 
The  head  has  rather  a  triangular  shape.  The  under 
part  of  this  is  flat;  it  measures  sixteen  or  twenty 
feet  in  length,  and  ten  or  twelve  in  breadth.  The 
lips  extend  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  open 
to  the  width  of  five  or  six  feet.  A  whale's  mouth 
is  capable  of  containing  a  ship's  jolly-boat  full  of  men. 
The  fins,  two  in  number,  are  from  seven  to  nine 
feet  long,  and  two  feet  broad.  There  is  no  dorsal  fin. 
The  tail,  comprising  in  a  single  surface,  eighty  or  one 
hundred  square  feet,  is  a  formidable  instrument  of 
motion  and  defence.  It  is  only  five  or  six  feet  long, 
but  its  width  is  from  eighteen  to  twenty -six  feet ;  its 
strength  is  enormous.  The  eyes  of  the  whale  are 
remarkably  small  in  proportion  to  the  bulk  of  the  ani- 
mal's body,  being  little  larger  than  those  of  an  ox. 
He  has  no  external  ear,  nor  can  any  orifice  for  the 
admission  of  sound  be  discovered  until  the  skin  is 
removed.  On  the  highest  part  of  the  head  are  two 
blow  holes,  six  or  eight  inches  apart ;  these  are  the 
proper  nostrils  of  the  whale,  and  by  their  spouting-, 
often  betray  the  course  of  the  animal  to  those  in  pur- 
suit. The  mouth  has  no  teeth,  but  in  lieu  of  them, 
two  extensive  rows  of  whalebone,  which  also  lines  the 
roof  of  the  mouth. *  The  skin  of  the  body  is  slightly 

*  Whalebone,  is  the  name  given  to  the  horny  layers  laid 
lengthwise  in  the  mouth  of  the  whale.     These  have  fringes 


16  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

furrowed,  like  the  water  lines  on  coarse  paper.  Im- 
mediately under  this,  lies  the  blubber  or  fat,  encom- 
passing the  whole  body  of  the  animal  together  witn 
the  fins  and  tail.  Its  color  is  yellowish  white,  yellow 
or  red ;  its  thickness  all  round  the  body  is  from  eight 
to  twenty  inches.  The  lips  are  composed  almost 
entirely  of  blubber,  and  yield  from  one  to  two  tons 
of  pure  oil  each.  The  blubber  and  the  whalebone  are 
the  only  valuable  parts  of  the  animal.  The  blubber 
in  its  fresh  state  is  without  any  unpleasant  smell,  and 
it  is  not  until  after  the  termination  of  the  voyage,  when 
the  cargo  is  unstowed,  that  a  Greenland  ship  offends 
the  nostrils.  A  stout  whale  of  sixty  feet  weighs  sev- 
enty tons,  and  will  yield  six  or  seven  thousand  gallons 
of  oil. 

The  spermaceti  whale  or  cachelot,  differs  in  several 
respects  from  the  other  species.  It  is  somewhat 
smaller,  and  feeds  in  a  different  manner.  The  Green- 
along  the  edges,  and  as  the  animal  has  no  teeth,  he  takes  in  a 
mouthful  of  sea  water,  which  contains  a  quantity  of  medusa? 
and  other  small  marine  animals  ;  when  the  mouth  is  closed, 
the  water  flows  out  between  the  fringes,  which  operate  as  a 
sieve  or  screen,  leaving  the  medusae  behind,  to  be  swallowed. 
It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  an  apparatus  more  admirably 
adapted  to  its  purpose,  than  this.  The  laminae  of  whalebone 
are  compacted  together,  by  what  is  called  the  gum.  There  are 
about  300  of  these  plates  or  blades  on  each  side  of  the 
mouth  ;  the  middle  ones  are  the  longest,  and  are  sometimes 
fifteen  feet  in  length.  The  width  at  the  root  end  is  ten  or 
twelve  inches,  and  the  thickness  four  or  five  tenths  of  an  inch. 
This  article  is  used  for  stays,  frames  of  umbrellas,  the  frame 
work  of  seats,  dec.  It  sells  in  London  for  £50  to  £150  ster- 
ling, per  ton. 


18  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

land  whale  is  supplied  with  a  curious  and  complicated 
apparatus  composed  of  numerous  strips  of  what  we 
call  whalebone,  which  operates  as  a  kind  of  sieve 
or  screen,  by  means  of  which,  it  separates  its  food  of 
medusae  and  other  small  sea  animals,  from  the  water ; 
thn  rachelot,  on  the  contrary,  has  sharp  teeth,  designed 
for  seizing  its  prey,  which  seems  to  consist  chiefly  of 
the  squid  or  sepia.  It  has  also  an  external  orifice  for 
hearing,  which  is  wanting  in  the  Greenland  whale. 
It  does  not  supply  whalebone,  but  yields  spermaceti, 
with  a  peculiarly  fine  kind  of  oil,  both  of  which  are 
found  in  the  head  of  the  animal,  in  a  thin  membrane- 
ous case.  The  head  is  enormously  large,  and  the 
quantity  of  these  valuable  materials  which  it  contains, 
renders  it  a  special  object  of  desire  to  the  whalers.  It 
is  gregarious,  the  herds  being  divided  into  two  kinds, 
one  consisting  of  females,  the  other  of  young  whales, 
not  fully  grown. 

These  herds  are  called  by  whalers  " schools"  and 
one  of  these  sometimes  contains  as  much  as  five  or  six 
hundred.  With  each  herd  or  school  of  females,  are 
always  from  one  to  three  large  bulls,  the  lords  of  the 
herd,  or  as  they  are  called,  the  "  school-masters." 
The  full  grown  whales,  or  "  large  whales,"  almost 
always  go  separately,  in  search  of  food ;  when  they  ' 
are  seen  in  company,  they  are  supposed  to  be  migrat- 
ing from  one  feeding  ground  to  another. 

The  British  whale-ships  seldom  attempt  to  penetrate 
the  northern  seas  before  the  month  of  April,  when 
the  sun  having  entered  the  northern  tropic,  begins  to 
enlighten  the  polar  regions  throughout  the  twenty-four 
hours.  Storms  and  foggy  weather  usually  prevail  in 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  19 

the  spring,  and  these  combined  with  the  darkness  of 
night  and  crowded  ice,  produce  as  gloomy  a  combina- 
tion of  circumstances,  as  can  well  be  imagined. 
Usually,  the  fish  are  most  plentiful  in  June.  The 
fishery  usually  terminates  in  July. 
»  The  northern  whale-ships  are  built  expressly  for 
the  purpose,  in  a  most  substantial  manner,  to  resist 
exposure  to  the  ice ;  they  are  sometimes  treble  planked ; 
the  stern  and  bows  are  fortified  in  the  strongest  man- 
ner by  timber  and  iron  plates.  The  crew  of  a  ship 
consists  of  forty  or  fifty  men,  all  of  whom  go  on 
shares  in  the  adventure.  On  reaching  the  fishing  sta- 
tion, the  whale  boats  are  prepared  for  service,  and 
slung  over  the  ship's  sides  on  davits  or  cranes ;  they 
are  furnished  with  stores,  harpoons,  lances,  &c.,  and 
everything  is  kept  in  such  readiness  that  they  can  be 
manned  and  lowered  into  the  water  at  a  minute's 
notice.  Whenever  there  is  a  probability  of  seeing 
whales,  the  master  or  some  one  of  the  officers  takes 
his  station  in  the  crowds  nest.  This  is  a  sort  of 
watch-tower  placed  on  the  maintop-mast  or  topgallant- 
mast  head,  to  shelter  the  observer  from  the  keen  pierc- 
ing wind  of  the  north.  Commanding  from  this  ele- 
vated point  an  extensive  prospect  of  all  the  surrounding 
sea,  he  keeps  an  anxious  watch  for  the  appearance  of 
a  whale.  The  moment  one  is  seen,  he  gives  notice  to 
the  watch  on  deck,  part  of  whom  leap  into  a  boat,  are 
lowered  down  and  push  ofT  in  pursuit.  If  the  whale 
be  large,  a  second  boat  is  immediately  despatched  to 
the  assistance  of  the  first.  The  harpooner  and  boat- 
steerer  keep  a  careful  watch  on  all  sides,  while  each 
of  the  rowers  looks  out  in  the  direction  of  his  oar. 


20  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

Many  precautions  must  be  observed  in  approaching  a 
whale  to  prevent  him  from  taking  the  alarm.  As  he 
is  dull  of  hearing,  but  quick  of  sight,  the  boat-steerer 
always  endeavors  to  get  behind  him. 

A  whale  seldom  abides  longer  on  the  top  of  the 
water  than  two  minutes,  and  generally  remains  from* 
five  to  ten  minutes  below.  In  this  interval,  he  some- 
times swims  half  a  mile  or  more ;  and  as  the  fisher 
has  very  rarely  any  certain  intimation  of  the  place  in 
which  he  will  re-appear,  the  difficulty  of  approaching 
him  sufficiently  near  during  his  short  stay  on  the  sur- 
face, to  reach  him  with  the  harpoon,  may  be  readily 
apprehended.  It  is,  therefore,  a  primary  considera- 
tion with  the  harpooner  always  to  place  his  boat  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  spot  in  which  he  expects  the 
fish  to  rise,  and  he  thinks  himself  successful  in  the 
attempt  when  the  fish  comes  up  "  within  a  start,"  that 
is,  within  the  distance  of  about  200  yards.  When- 
ever a  whale  lies  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  uncon- 
scious of  the  approach  of  his  enemies,  the  hardy 
fisher  rows  directly  upon  him,  and  the  instant  before 
the  boat  touches,  buries  the  harpoon  in  his  back. 
But  if,  while  the  boat  is  yet  at  a  little  distance,  the 
whale  should  indicate  his  intention  of  diving  by  lift- 
ing his  head  and  then  plunging  it  under  water,  and 
raising  his  body  until  it  appears  like  the  large  segment 
of  a  sphere,  the  harpoon  is  thrown  from  the  hand,  or 
fired  from  a  gun.  The  wounded  whale,  in  the  sur- 
prise and  agony  of  the  moment,  makes  a  convulsive 
effort  to  escape.  This  is  the  moment  of  danger.  The 
boat  is  exposed  to  the  most  violent  blows  from  his 
head  or  fins,  but  particularly  from  his  ponderous  tail, 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  21 

which  sometimes  sweeps  the  air  with  such  tremen- 
dous fury  that  boat  and  men  are  exposed  to  one  com- 
mon destruction.  The  first  effort  of  a  "  fast  fish,"  or 
whale  that  has  been  struck,  is  to  escape  from  the  boat 
by  sinking  under  water.  After  this  he  pursues  his 
.course  directly  downward,  or  re-appears  at  a  little  dis- 
tance, and  swims  with  great  celerity  near  the  surface  of 
the  water  towards  any  neighboring  ice,  among  which  he 
imagines  he  may  obtain  shelter,  or  he  returns  instantly 
to  the  surface,  and  gives  evidence  of  his  agony  by  the 
most  convulsive  throes,  in  which  his  fins  and  tail  are 
alternately  displayed  in  the  air  and  dashed  into  the 
water  with  tremendous  violence. 

To  the  harpoon  is  attached  the  end  of  a  very  long 
line,  which  is  nicely  coiled  up  in  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  so  that  it  may  run  out  freely  as  the  whale  makes 
off.  But  to  retard  as  much  as  possible  his  flight,  it  is 
usual  for  the  harpooner  to  cast  one,  two,  or  more  turns 
of  the  line  round  a  kind  of  post  called  a  bollard.  Such 
is  the  friction  of  the  line  when  running  round  the 
bollard,  that  it  frequently  envelops  the  harpooner  in 
smoke,  and  if  the  wood  were  not  frequently  moistened, 
it  would  take  fire.  During  the  capture  of  one  whale, 
a  groove  is  sometimes  cut  in  the  bollard  nearly  an  inch 
in  depth.  When  the  line  happens  to  become  entan- 
gled, it  sometimes  draws  the  boat  under  water,  and  if 
no  boat  or  piece  of  ice  be  at  hand,  the  crew  are  in 
danger  of  drowning.  When  the  line  is  nearly  run 
out,  and  more  is  wanted,  a  signal  is  made  for  help  by 
elevating  an  oar,  and  sometimes  two,  three,  or  four, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  exigence.  It  is  usual 


22  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

in  order  to  prevent  accidents,  for  two  boats  to  go  in 
company. 

The  average  stay  under  water,  of  a  wounded  whale 
which  steadily  descends  after  being  struck,  is  about 
half  an  hour.  The  greater  the  velocity,  the  more  con- 
siderable the  distance  to  which  he  descends,  and  the 
longer  the  time  he  remains  under  water — so  much 
greater  in  proportion  is  the  extent  of  his  exhaustion, 
and  the  consequent  facility  of  effecting  his  capture. 
As  soon  as  he  re-appears,  the  assisting  boats  pull  after 
him  with  the  utmost  speed,  and  as  they  reach  him, 
each  harpooner  plunges  his  weapon  into  his  back. 
He  is  afterwards  assailed  with  lances ;  and  at  length, 
when  exhausted  by  numerous  wounds  and  the  loss  of 
blood,  he  begins  to  indicate  the  approach  of  death  by 
spouting  blood  from  his  nostrils.  The  sea  to  a  great 
extent  around,  is  dyed  with  blood,  and  the  boats  and 
men  are  someiimes  drenched  with  the  same.  His 
track  is  likewise  marked  by  a  broad  pellicle  of  oil, 
which  exudes  from  the  wounds  and  appears  on  the 
surface  of  the  sea.  The  death  of  the  whale  is  some- 
times preceded  by  a  convulsive  struggle  in  which  his 
tail  is  reared,  whirled,  and  violently  jerked  in  the  air 
with  a  noise  that  resounds  to  the  distance  of  miles. 

The  ease  with  which  some  whales  are  subdued,  and 
the  slightness  of  the  entanglement  by  which  they  are 
taken,  are  truly  surprising.  But  with  others  it  is 
equally  astonishing,  that  neither  line  nor  harpoon  nor 
any  number  of  these  are  sufficient  to  ensure  their  cap- 
ture. Many  instances  have  occurred  where  whales 
have  escaped  from  four,  five,  or  even  more  harpoons, 
while  others  equally  large  have  been  killed  by  only 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  23 

one.  Indeed,  whales  have  been  taken  in  consequence 
of  the  entanglement  of  a  line,  without  any  harpoon  at 
all.  The  following  anecdote  to  this  effect  is  given  by 
Scoresby. 

A  whale  was  struck  and  killed  by  the  boat  of  a 
British  ship  in  Davis'  Straits.  The  line  was  detached 
from  the  harpoon,  and  while  the  boat's  crew  were 
hauling  it  in,  on  a  sudden,  to  their  great  astonishment, 
the  line  was  pulled  away  from  them  with,  the  same 
force  and  violence  as  by  a  whale  when  first  struck. 
They  gave  the  signal  and  their  shipmates  flocked 
toward  them,  every  one  expressing  a  degree  of  aston- 
ishment equal  to  their  own,  but  all  agreeing  that  a 
fish  was  fast  to  the  line.  In  a  few  minutes  they  were 
confirmed  in  their  opinion,  and  relieved  from  suspense 
by  the  rising  of  a  large  whale  close  by  them,  exhausted 
by  fatigue,  and  having  every  appearance  of  being 
struck.  He  permitted  himself  to  be  attacked  by  sev- 
eral harpoons  at  once,  and  was  speedily  killed.  On 
examination  after  death,  they  found  the  line  belonging 
to  the  above  mentioned  boat,  in  his  mouth,  where  it 
was  still  firmly  held  by  the  compression  of  the  lips. 
It  appeared  that  the  end  of  the  line  after  being  loos- 
ened from  the  whale  first  killed,  was  in  the  act  of 
sinking  in  the  water ;  the  fish  in  question,  engaged  in 
feeding,  was  advancing  with  his  mouth  wide  open, 
and  accidentally  caught  the  line  between  his  extended 
jaws.  A  sensation  so  utterly  new,  had  caused  him  to 
shut  his  mouth  and  grasp  the  line  which  was  the 
cause  of  his  alarm,  so  firmly  that  a  harpoon  could  not 
have  attached  it  to  him  more  effectually. 

In  July,  1813,  Scoresby's  ship  lay  by  the  edge  of  a 


24  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

large  sheet  of  ice,  in  which  were  several  thin  parts, 
and  some  holes.  Here  a  whale  was  heard  blowing  ; 
and  a  harpoon  with  a  line  connected  with  it  was  con- 
veyed across  the  ice  from  a  boat  on  guard,  and  the 
harpooner  succeeded  in  striking  the  whale  at  the  dis- 
tance of  350  yards  from  the  verge.  It  dragged  out 
ten  lines,  (2400  yards,)  and  was  supposed  to  be  seen 
blowing  in  different  holes  in  the  ice.  After  some 
time  he  appeared  on  the  exterior,  and  a  harpoon  was 
thrown  at  the  moment  he  was  on  the  point  of  diving 
beneath.  About  a  hundred  yards  from  the  edge  he 
broke  through  the  ice  with  his  crown,  where  it  was  a 
foot  thick,  and  respired  through  the  opening.  He 
then  resolutely  pushed  forward,  breaking  the  ice  as  he 
advanced,  in  spite  of  the  lances  constantly  directed 
against  him.  He  reached  at  length  a  kind  of  basin  in 
the  field  where  he  floated  on  the  surface  of  the  water 
without  any  incumbrance  from  the  ice.  His  back 
being  fairly  exposed,  the  harpoon  struck  from  the  boat 
on  the  outside,  was  observed  to  be  so  slightly  fixed  in 
him  that  it  was  ready  to  drop  out.  Some  of  the  offi- 
cers lamented  this,  and  expressed  a  wish  that  the  har- 
poon were  better  fastened,  observing  that  if  it  should 
slip  out,  either  the  fish  would  be  lost,  or  they  would 
be  under  the  necessity  of  cutting  it  up  where  it  lay, 
and  dragging  the  pieces  of  blubber  over  the  ice  to  the 
ship,  a  labor  which  every  one  was  anxious  to  avoid. 
No  sooner  was  the  wish  expressed,  than  one  of  the 
sailors,  a  bold  enterprising  fellow,  stepped  forward 
and  volunteered  his  services  to  strike  it  farther  in. 
Not  at  all  intimidated  by  the  surprise  which  was  mani- 
fested in  every  countenance,  by  so  daring  a  proposal,  he 


THB    WHALE    FISHERY.  25 

pulled  out  his  jack-knife,  leaped  upon  the  back  of  the 
living  whale  and  cut  the  harpoon  out.  Stimulated  by 
his  courageous  example,  one  of  his  companions  pro- 
ceeded to  his  assistance.  While  one  of  them  hauled 
upon  the  line,  and  held  it  in  his  hands,  the  other  set 
his  shoulder  against  the  extremity  of  the  harpoon,  and 
though  it  was  without  a  stock,  he  contrived  to  strike 
it  again  into  the  fish  more  effectually  than  it  was  at 
first.  The  whale  was  in  motion  before  they  finished ; 
after  they  got  off  his  back,  he  advanced  a  considerable 
distance,  breaking  the  ice  all  the  way,  and  survived 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

When  a  ship  approaches  a  considerable  field  of  ice, 
and  finds  whales,  it  is  usual  to  moor  to  the  lee  side 
of  it.  Boats  are  placed  on  the  watch,  and  stationed  at 
intervals  of  100  or  150  yards  from  one  another,  along 
the  edge  of  the  ice.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  a  great 
number  of  ships  to  moor  to  the  same  sheet  of  ice. 
When  the  whale  fishery  of  the  Dutch  was  in  its  most 
flourishing  state,  above  a  hundred  sail  of  ships  might 
sometimes  be  seen  moored  to  the  same  field. 

Fishing  in  storms  never  takes  place  except  when  a 
gale  arises  immediately  after  a  fish  is  struck ;  but  in 
foggy  weather,  the  fishery,  though  hazardous,  is  not 
altogether  impracticable.  The  fogs  of  the  north  in 
June  and  July  are  generally  thick  and  lasting.  They 
are  so  dense  that  objects  cannot  be  seen  at  a  hundred 
yards'  distance.  When  a  whale  is  struck  in  one  of 
these  fogs,  and  conducts  favorably,  that  is,  descends 
almost  perpendicularly,  and  on  his  return  to  the  sur- 
face, remains  nearly  stationary  or  moves  round  in  a 
small  circle,  he  is  usually  captured  without  much  haz- 
xvin. — 3 


26  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

ard  or  difficulty.  But  when,  on  the  contrary,  he  pro- 
ceeds with  any  considerable  velocity  in  a  horizontal 
direction,  or  obliquely  downwards,  he  soon  drags  the 
boats  out  of  sight  of  the  ship,  and  shortly  so  con- 
founds the  fishers  in  the  thick  mist,  that  they  lose  all 
knowledge  of  the  direction  of  the  vessel.  If  they  get 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  sound  of  a  bell,  or  a  cannon, 
they  run  great  hazard  of  being  lost. 

"  On  the  25th  of  June,  1812,"  says  Scoresby,  "  one 
of  the  harpooners  belonging  to  the  Resolution,  of 
Whitby,  under  my  command,  struck  a  whale  by  the 
edge  of  a  small  floe  of  ice.  Assistance  being 
promptly  afforded,  a  second  boat's  lines  were  attached 
to  those  of  the  first  boat  in  a  few  minutes  after  the 
harpoon  was  discharged.  The  remainder  of  the  boats 
proceeded  to  some  distance,  in  the  direction  the  fish 
seemed  to  have  taken.  In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
the  fast  boat,  to  my  surprise,  again  made  a  signal  for 
lines.  As  the  sKip  was  then  within  five  minutes'  sail, 
we  instantly  steered  towards  the  boat  with  the -view 
of  affording  assistance.  Before  we  reached  the  place, 
however,  we  observed  four  oars  displayed  in  signal 
order,  which  by  their  number,  indicated  a  most  urgent 
necessity  for  assistance.  Two  or  three  men  were  at 
the  same  time  seated  close  by  the  stern,  which  was 
considerably  elevated,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  it 
down,  while  the  bow  of  the  boat,  by  the  force  of  the 
line,  was  drawn  down  to  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the 
harpooner  by  the  friction  of  the  line  round  the  bollard, 
was  enveloped  in  smoky  obscurity.  At  length,  when 
the  ship  was  scarcely  a  hundred  yards  distant,  we 
perceived  preparations  for  quitting  the  boat.  The 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  27 

sailors'  pea  jackets  were  cast  upon  the  adjoining  ice,  the 
oars  were  thrown  down,  the  crew  leaped  overboard,  the 
bow  of  the  boat  was  buried  in  the  water,  the  stern  rose 
perpendicularly  and  then  it  majestically  disappeared. 
The  harpooner  having  caused  the  end  of  the  line  to 
be  fastened  to  the  iron  ring  at  the  boat's  stern,  was 
the  means  of  its  loss,  and  a  tongue  of  the  ice  on  which 
was  a  depth  of  several  feet  of  water,  kept  the  boat  by 
the  pressure  of  the  line  against  it,  at  such  a  consider- 
able distance,  as  prevented  the  crew  from  leaping  upon 
the  floe.  Some  of  them  were,  therefore,  put  to  the 
necessity  of  swimming  for  their  preservation,  but  all 
of  them  succeeded  in  scrambling  upon  the  ice,  and 
were  taken  aboard  of  the  ship  a  few  minutes  after- 
ward. 

"  Several  ships  being  about  us,  there  was  a  possi- 
bility that  some  person  might  attack  and  make  a  prize 
of  the  whale,  when  it  had  so  far  escaped  us  that  we 
no  longer  retained  any  hold  of  it.  We  set  all  sail  the 
ship  could  safely  sustain,  and  crowded  through  several 
narrow  and  intricate  channels  in  the  ice,  in  the  direc- 
tion I  observed  the  fish  had  retreated.  After  a  little 
time,  it  was  descried  by  the  people  in  the  boats  at  a 
considerable  distance  to  the  eastward ;  a  general  chase 
immediately  commenced,  and  in  the  space  of  an  horn, 
three  harpoons  were  struck.  We  now  imagined  the 
fish  was  secure,  but  our  expectations  were  premature. 
The  whale  resolutely  pushed  beneath  a  large  floe  that 
had  recently  been  broken  to  pieces  by  the  swell,  and 
soon  drew  all  the  lines  out  of  the  second  fast  boat,  the 
officer  of  which,  not  being  able  to  get  any  assistance, 
tied  the  end  of  his  line  to  a  hammock  of  ice,  and 


2S  THE   WHALE    FISHERY. 

oroke  it.  Soon  afterward,  the  two  other  boats,  still 
fast,  were  dragged  against  the  broken  floe,  when  one 
of  the  harpoons  drew  out.  The  line  of  only  one  boat 
therefore,  remained  fast  to  the  fish,  and  this,  with  six 
or  eight  lines  out,  was  dragged  forward  into  the  shat- 
tered floe  with  astonishing  force.  Pieces  of  ice,  each 
of  which  was  sufficiently  large  to  have  answered  the 
purpose  of  a  mooring  for  a  ship,  were  wheeled  about 
by  the  strength  of  the  whale,  and  such  was  the  tension 
and  elasticity  of  the  line,  that  whenever  it  slipped 
clear  of  any  mass  of  ice,  after  turning  it  round  into  the 
space  between  any  two  adjoining  pieces,  the  boat  and 
its  crew  flew  forward  through  the  creek  with  the 
velocity  of  an  arrow,  and  never  failed  to  launch  several 
feet  upon  the  first  mass  of  ice  that  it  encountered. 

"  While  we  scoured  the  sea  around  the  broken  floe, 
with  the  ship,  and  while  the  ice  was  attempted  in  vain 
by  the  boats,  the  whale  continued  to  press  forward  in  an 
easterly  direction,  toward  the  sea.  At  length,  when 
fourteen  lines — about  1680  fathoms — were  drawn 
from  the  fourth  fast  boat,  a  slight  entanglement  of  the 
line  broke  it  at  the  stern.  The  fish,  then,  again  made 
its  escape,  taking  along  with  it  a  boat  and  twenty- 
eight  lines.  The  united  length  of  these  was  6720 
yards,  or  upwards  of  three  English  miles  and  three 
quarters ;  value,  with  the  boat,  £150  sterling.  The 
obstruction  of  the  sunken  boat  to  the  progress  of  the 
fish,  must  have  been  immense,  and  that  of  the  lines 
likewise  considerable,  the  weight  of  these  alone  being 
3500  weight. 

"  So  long  as  the  fourth  fast  boat,  through  the  medium 
of  its  lines,  retained  its  hold  of  the  fish,  we  searched 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  29 

the  adjoining  sea  with  the  ship  in  vain ;  but  in  a  short 
time  after  the  line  was  divided,  we  got  sight  of  the 
object  of  pursuit,  at  the  distance  of  near  two  miles  to 
the  eastward  of  the  ice  and  boats,  in  the  open  sea. 
One  boat  only,  with  lines,  and  two  empty  boats,  were 
reserved  by  the  ship.  Having,  however,  fortunately, 
fine  weather,  and  a  fresh  breeze  of  wind,  we  immedi- 
ately gave  chase  under  all  sail,  though  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, with  the  insignificant  force  by  us,  the  distance 
of  the  fish,  and  the  rapidity  of  its  flight  considered,  we 
had  but  very  small  hopes  of  success.  At  length,  after 
pursuing  it  five  or  six  miles,  being  at  least  nine  miles 
from  the  place  where  it  was  struck,  we  came  up  with 
it,  and  it  .seemed  inclined  to  rest  after  its  extraor- 
dinary exertions.  The  two  dismantled  or  empty 
boats  having  been  furnished  with  two  lines  each,  a 
very  inadequate  supply,  they,  together  with  the  one  in 
a  good  state  of  equipment,  now  made  an  attack  upon 
the  whale.  One  of  the  harpooners  made  a  blunder ; 
the  fish  saw  the  boat,  took  the  alarm,  and  again  fled. 
I  now  supposed  it  would  be  seen  no  more ;  neverthe- 
less, we  chased  nearly  a  mile  in  the  direction  I  imag- 
ined it  had  taken,  and  placed  the  boats  to  the  best  of 
my  judgment,  in  the  most  advantageous  situations. 
In  this  case,  we  were  extremely  fortunate.  The  fish 
rose  near  one  of  the  boats,  and  was  immediately  har-' 
pooned.  In  a  few  minutes,  two  more  harpoons 
entered  its  back,  and  lances  were  plied  against  it  with 
vigor  and  success.  Exhausted  by  its  amazing  exer- 
tions to  escape,  it  yielded  itself  at  length  to  its  fate, 
received  the  piercing  wounds  of  the  lances  without 
resistance,  and  finally  died  without  a  struggle." 
3* 


30  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

The  same  writer  describes  the  following  singular, 
yet  unsuccessful  chase.  "  The  weather  was  fine,  and 
no  ice  in  sight.  A  boat  was  despatched  toward  one 
of  the  fish  we  saw,  which  was  immediately  struck. 
The  men  were  already  considerably  fatigued,  but  of 
course  proceeded  in  the  boats  to  the  chase  of  the  fast 
fish.  It  made  its  re-appearance  before  they  all  left  the 
ship.  Three  boats  then  approached  it,  unluckily  at 
the  same  moment.  Each  of  these  so  incommoded  the 
others,  that  no  second  harpoon  could  be  struck.  The 
fish  then  took  the  alarm,  and  ran  off  towards  the  east, 
at  the  rate  of  about  four  miles  per  hour.  Some  of  the 
boats  gave  chase,  and  others  took  hold  of  the  fast  boat, 
and  were  towed  by  it  to  windward.  When  two  boats 
by  great  exertions  on  the  part  of  their  crews,  had  got 
very  near  to  the  fish,  and  the  harpooners  were 
expecting  every  moment  to  be  able  to  strike  it,  it  sud- 
denly shifted  its  course  when  under  water,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  discovered  itself  in  a  southerly  direction, 
at  least  half  a  mile  from  any  boat.  It  then -completed 
a  circuit  round  the  fast  boat  with  a  sweep  of  nearly  a 
mile  as  a  radius,  and  though  followed  in  its  track  by 
the  boats,  it  dived  before  any  of  them  got  near  it,  and 
evaded  them  completely.  When  it  appeared  again,  it 
was  at  least  half  a  mile  to  windward  of  any  of  them, 
and  then  continued  arduously  advancing  in  the  same 
direction.  The  'lipper'  on  the  water  arising  from  a 
strong  breeze  of  wind,  much  impeded  the  velocity  of 
the  boats,  and  rapidly  exhausted  the  little  remaining 
strength  of  the  crews. 

"  At  various  times  during  the  pursuit,  the  boats 
having  the  most  indefatigable  crews,  reached  the  fish 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  31 

within  ten  or  fifteen  yards,  when,  apparently  aware  of 
their  design,  it  immediately  sunk  and  changed  its 
course,  so  that  it  invariably  made  its  next  appearance 
in  a  quarter  where  no  boats  were  near.  The  most 
general  course  of  the  whale  being  to  windward,  it  soon 
withdrew  all  the  boats  many  miles  from  the  ship,  not- 
withstanding our  utmost  efforts  under  a  pressure  of 
sail,  to  keep  near  them.  After  six  or  seven  hours'  pur- 
suit, without  success,  the  sky  became  overcast,  and  we 
were  suddenly  enveloped  for  some  time  in  a  thick  fog. 
This,  circumstance  excited  much  alarm  for  the  safety 
of  the  boats ;  we  were  soon,  however,  relieved  by  the 
fog  being  dispelled.  In  this  interval,  the  boats  were 
all  moored  to  the  fast  boat,  the  men  being  fearful  of 
being  dispersed ;  but  on  the  disappearance  of  the  fog, 
the  pursuit  was  re-commenced  with  more  determined 
vigor.  Still,  the  harpooners  were  not  able  to  succeed. 
They  were  now  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  using 
every  measure  to  retard  the  flight  of  the  fish.  For 
this  purpose,  they  slacked  out  new  lines,  a  weight  in 
air  of  11£  cwt.,  while  the  crew  of  the  fast  boat 
endeavored  further  to  retard  its  progress,  by  holding 
their  oars  firmly  in  the  water  as  if  in  the  act  of  back- 
ing the  boat  astern ;  but  this  plan  did  not  succeed. 
They  then  lashed  two  or  three  boats  with  their  sides 
to  the  stern  of  the  fast  boat,  and  these  were  dragged 
broadside  first,  with  little  diminution  of  velocity  for 
some  time.  But  the  fish  at  length  feeling  the  imped- 
iment, suddenly  changed  its  course,  and  again  disap- 
pointed the  people  in  two  of  the  boats,  which  had  got 
extremely  near  it. 

"  Several  times  the  harpooners  seized  their  wea- 


32  THE    WHALE   FISHERY. 

pons,  and  were  on  the  point  of  launching  them  at  the 
fish,  when  in  an  instant,  it  shot  from  them  with  sin- 
gular velocity,  and  then  disappeared.  In  this  way, 
the  chase  was  continued  for  fourteen  hours,  when  the 
fish  again  turned  to  leeward.  But  the  men,  exhausted 
by  such  uncommon  exertion,  together  with  the  hard 
labor  to  which  they  had  previously  been  subjected,  at 
the  same  time  being  without  meat  or  drink,  and  spar- 
ingly shielded  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather 
by  clothes  drenched  in  oil,  were  incapacitated  from 
taking  advantage  of  the  only  chance  they  had  jever 
had  of  success,  from  the  commencement  of  the  chase ; 
they  did,  it  is  true,  make  the  attempt,  but  their  efforts 
were  too  feeble  to  be  of  any  service. 

"  By  this  time,  we  had  reached  the  boats  with  the 
ship ;  the  wind  had  increased  to  a  gale,  and  a  consid- 
erable sea  had  arisen.  We  had  no  hope,  therefore,  of 
success ;  as,  however,  we  could  not  possibly  recover 
the  lines  at  this  time,  stormy  as  the  weather  was,  we 
applied  a  cask  as  a  buoy  to  support  them,  and  moored 
an  empty  boat  leaving. a  jack  flying  in  it,  to  the  cask, 
with  the  intention  of  keeping  near  it  during  the  storm, 
and  with  the  expectation  of  recovering  our  lines,  and  a 
faint  hope  of  likewise  gaining  the  fish  after  the  termi- 
nation of  the  gale.  The  boat  was  then  abandoned, 
and  all  hands  fatigued  and  oppressed  with  hunger 
and  thirst,  and  sore  with  cold,  were  safely,  but 
not  without  difficulty,  taken  on  board  the  ship  at  the 
expiration  of  15f  hours  of  'unremitting  labor  under 
circumstances  particularly  unfavorable.  We  made 
an  attempt  to  keep  near  the  boat  with  the  ship, 
but  the  increasing  force  of  the  gale  drove  us,  in  spite 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  33 

of  every  effort,  about  twenty  mdles  to  leeward.  On 
the  first  cessation  we  made  all  sail  and  plied  towards 
the  boat,  and  although  the  weather  Was  constantly 
foggy,  we  succeeded  in  finding1  it,  recovered  boat  and 
lines,  but  lost  the  whale.  This  disagreeable  and  un- 
successful adventure  occupied  between  three  and  four 
days." 

These  perilous  adventures  are  sometimes  attended 
by  fatal  consequences.  In  1810,  the  Aimwell,  a 
British  whaler,  while  in  the  Greenland  seas  struck  a 
fish  by  one  of  her  boats.  Instead  of  sinking  imme- 
diately on  receiving  the  harpoon,  as  is  usual,  he  only 
dived  for  a  moment  and  then  rose  beneath  the  boat, 
struck  it  in  the  most  furious  manner  with  his  fins  and 
tail,  stove  and  upset  it,  and  then  disappeared.  The 
crew,  seven  in  number,  got  on  the  bottom  of  the  boat, 
but  the  unequal  action  of  the  line  which  for  some  time 
remained  entangled  with  the  boat,  rolled  it  occasion- 
ally over  and  thus  plunged  the  crew  repeatedly  in  the 
water.  Four  of  them  after  each  immersion,  recovered 
themselves  and  clung  to  the  boat,  but  the  other  three, 
one  of  whom  was  the  only  person  who  could  swim, 
were  drowned  before  assistance  could  arrive.  The 
four  men  in  the  boat  being  rescued,  the  attack  was 
renewed,  and  two  more  harpoons  were  struck.  But 
the  whale,  irritated  instead  of  being  alarmed  by  his 
wounds,  turned  upon  his  assailants.  The  sea  was  all 
in  a  foam  from  his  furious  motions ;  his  tail  and  fins 
were  in  awful  play :  in  a  short  time  harpoon  after 
harpoon  drew  out,  the  whale  was  loosened  from  his 
entanglement  and  escaped. 

After  the  whale  is  properly  secured  alongside  of  the 


34  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

ship,  the  harpooners,  having  their  feet  armed  with  spurs 
to  prevent  them  from  slipping,  descend  upon  the  fish. 
Two  hoats  attend  upon  them  and  serve  to  hold  their 
knives  and  other  apparatus.  The  harpooners  divide 
the  fat  into  long  slips  which  are  stripped  off  the 
whale  by  a  tackle.  This  process  is  called  flensing. 
Where  sharks  are  about  the  ship  they  generally  help 
themselves  very  plentifully  during  this  operation,  but 
they  often  pay  for  their  temerity  with  their  lives. 
Sea-fowl  are  also  in  attendance  in  immense  num- 
bers. They  seize  the  fragments  occasionally  disen- 
gaged by  the  knife,  either  in  the  water  or  on  the  wing. 
After  the  blubber  is  received  on  board  it  is  cut  into 
small  pieces  and  put  into  casks  through  the  bung-hole. 
This  process  is  called  "making  off."  The  blubber 
which  is  originally  in  a  state  of  firm  fat,  is  found  on 
its  arrival  in  a  warm  climate,  to  be  in  a  great  measure 
resolved  into  oil.  From  the  remainder,  the  oil  is 
extracted  by  boiling. 

The  decline  of  the  British  northern  whale  fishery 
appears  to  be  owing  to  three  principal  causes.  In  the 
first  place,  the  introduction  of  gas  into  general  use  in 
Great  Britain  has  materially  lessened  the  demand  for 
whale  oil.  In  the  second  place,  the  former  fishing 
fields  round  Spitzbergen  have  been  greatly  exhausted, 
and  whalers  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  venturing 
into  more  perilous  latitudes  for  the  object  of  their  pur- 
suit. In  the  third  place,  a  loss  of  life  and  property  in 
this  fishery  has  taken  place  of  late  years  so  extensive 
and  alarming,  that  mercantile  men  have  been  unwil- 
ling to  risk  their  capital,  and  seamen  their  existence 
'm  such  ill-fated  expeditions.  In  the  year  1830,  not 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  %  35 

less  than  eighteen  out  of  eighty-seven  whale  ships 
were  lost  in  the  Davis'  Straits  fishery;  and  twenty- 
four  returned  without  taking  any  fish.  This  state  of 
things  has  been  since  growing  worse,  and  in  1837, 
several  vessels  were  lost,  and  many  others  locked  up 
in  the  ice  during  the  winter.  The  greater  part  of  the 
crews  were  lost,  and  the  remainder  experienced  the 
most  cruel  sufferings. 

From  the  northern  whale  fishery  we  now  turn  to 
that  of  the  South,  where  this  branch  of  industry  is 
pursued  on  the  grandest  scale.  The  fishery  ground 
there  extends  over  the  whole  South  Atlantic,  the 
Pacific  and  Indian  Oceans ;  it  is  in  these  waters  that 
the  spermaceti  whale  is  obtained.  The  method  of 
taking  it  is  not  materially  different  from  that  already 
described  in  relation  to  the  "  right  whale  "  ;  but  it  is 
attended  by  perils  of  another  sort.  Timid  as  it  is,  the 
cachelot  or  spermaceti  whale  often  causes  such  danger 
by  its  convulsive  efforts  to  escape,  that  its  capture  is 
not  less  perilous  than  that  of  the  northern  whale 
among  the  polar  ice.  Young  bulls,  as  they  are  called, 
in  particular,  frequently  give  enormous  trouble  to  their 
pursuers,  and  sometimes  turn  upon  them  with  great 
fury,  intent  on  mischief,  attacking  them  with  teeth  and 
tail.  While  the  British  northern  whale  fishery  has 
fallen  off,  that  of  the  south  has  much  increased.  As 
in  the  case  of  the  former,  bounties  were  at  first  given 
by  government,  but  in  1821,  these  were  withheld,  and 
the  business  was  fairly  left  to  private  enterprise. 

But  the  British,  and  indeed  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  have  been  far  surpassed  in  -this  fishery  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  American 


36  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

whale  fishery  now  constitutes  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant branches  of  naval  enterprise  of  this  or  any  other 
nation.  The  vessels  employed  in  this  fishery  in  1844, 
amounted  to  696,  a  greater  number  by  far  than  that 
of  all  the  European  whale  ships  combined.  The  re- 
markable enterprise  of  our  countrymen  in  this  depart- 
ment of  maritime  adventure  attracted  the  notice  of 
Mr.  Burke  at  a  very  early  period,  and  in  1774,  he 
uttered  the  following  language ;  "  Look  at  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  New  England  people  carry  on  the 
whale  fishery.  While  we  follow  them  among  the 
tumbling  mountains  of  ice  and  behold  them  penetrat- 
ing into  the  deepest  frozen  recesses  of  Hudson's  Bay 
and  Davis'  Straits ;  while  we  are  looking  for  them 
beneath  the  Arctic  Circle,  we  hear  that  they  have 
pierced  into  the  opposite  region  of  polar  cold ;  that 
they  are  at  the  antipodes,  and  engaged  under  the 
frozen  serpent  of  the  South.  Falkland  Island,  which 
seemed  too  remote  and  too  romantic  an  object  to  the 
grasp  of  national  ambition,  is  but  a  stage  and  resting- 
place  for  their  victorious  industry.  Nor  is  the  equi- 
noctial heat  more  discouraging  to  them  than  the  accu- 
mulated winter  of  both  the  poles.  We  learn  that  while 
some  of  them  draw  the  line  or  strike  the  harpoon  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  others  run  the  longitude  and  pur- 
sue their  gigantic  game  along  the  coast  of  Brazil." 

The  first  whaling  expedition  of  the  people  of  Nan- 
tucket  took  place  within  twenty  or  thirty  years  of  the 
settlement  of  the  island.  A  whale  happened  to  ven- 
ture into  the  harbor  or  was  driven  in  by  a  storm. 
This  excited  the  curiosity  of  the  inhabitants  and  led" 
them  to  devise  means  to  prevent  his  escape.  Their 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  37 

Yankee  ingenuity,  unassisted  by  any  practical  knowl- 
edge, invented  a  harpoon  with  which  they  attacked 
and  killed  this  unexpected  visitor.  Such  a  success 
encouraged  them  to  undertake  the  whale  fishery  as  a 
permanent  business,  as  the  whales  were  very  nume- 
rous upon  their  shores.  The  pursuit  of  whales  com- 
menced in  boat?  from  the  island,  and  increased  from 
year  to  year,  till  it  became  the  principal  occupation  of 
the  people.  The  Indians  who  remained  in  consider- 
able numbers  upon  the  island,  had  always  been  fond 
of  fishing,  and  readily  joined  with  the  whites  in  this 
new  pursuit,  and  willingly  submitted  to  any  station 
assigned  them.  By  their  assistance  the  whites  were 
enabled  to  fit  out  and  man  a  far  greater  number  of 
boats  than  they  could  have  equipped  of  themselves. 
Nearly  every  boat  was  manned  in  part,  and  many 
almost  entirely  by  natives.  Some  of  the  most  skilful 
were  made  steersmen,  and  some  were  allowed  to  head 
the  boats.  Thus  encouraged  they  soon  became  ex- 
perienced whalemen  and  capable  of  conducting  any 
part  of  the  business.  Sometimes  during  the  pleasant 
days  of  winter  they  ventured  off  in  their  boats  nearly 
out  of  sight  of  land ;  we  are  told  that  the  winters 
although  equally  cold,  were  not  then  so  boisterous  as 
at  present,  but  that  the  sea  would  sometimes  continue 
calm  for  a  week  or  a  fortnight  at  a  time. 

After  being  killed  and  towed  to  land,  the  whale  was 
flensed  by  drawing  off  the  strips  of  blubber  with  a 
capstan,  and  the  oil  "*was  extracted  in  their  "  try- 
houses,"  which  at  that  early  period  adjoined  their 
dwellings.  To  enable  the  people  to  discover  whales 
at  a  distance,  a  mast  was  erected  near  the  shore 
XVIIL— 4 


38  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

upon  which  they  climbed,  to  look  out  for  their  game, 
There  appears  to  have  been  no  decrease  in  the  num- 
ber of  whales  during  the  first  thirty  or  forty  years 
from  the  beginning  of  the  fishery.  The  greatest 
number  killed  and  brought  to  shore  in  one  day  was 
eleven.  This  method  of  whaling  continued  till  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  when  the  whales  be- 
came scarce,  and  it  was  by  degrees  abandoned.  It  is 
remarkable  that,  although  the  people  of  Nantucket 
were  obliged  to  teach  themselves  this  dangerous 
occupation,  and  to  carry  it  on  under  peculiarly  hazard- 
bus  circumstances,  not  a  single  life  was  lost  in  the 
business  during  the  seventy  years  preceding  1760. 

All  the  whales  which  were  killed  in  this  quarter 
were  of  the  "right"  species.  The  first  spermaceti 
whale  known  to  the  inhabitants  was  driven  ashore 
dead  on  the  south-west  part  of  the  island.  There  were 
so  many  claimants  of  this  prize  that  it  was  difficult  to 
decide  who  should  have  it.  The  Indians  claimed  the 
whale,  because  they  found  it ;  the  whites  claimed  it 
under  their  patent,  which  gave  them  the  property  of 
the  territory.  An  officer  of  the  crown  put  in  a  claim 
in  behalf  of  the  king,  for  according  to  ancient  English 
laws  when  a  whale  is  driven  ashore  the  head  belongs  to 
the  king  and  the  tail  to  the  queen — a  whimsical  reg- 
ulation, the  origin  of  which  is  not  known.  After  con- 
siderable discussion  among  the  contending  parties,  it 
was  settled  that  all  treasure-trove  of  this  sort  should 
belong  to  the  parties  who  made  the  discovery.  The 
spermaceti  at  that  time  was  esteemed  to  be  worth  its 
weight  in  silver,  as  a  universal  medicine. 

When  the  whales  had  become  scarce,  and  appre- 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  39 

hensions  were  felt  that  this  branch  of  industry  would 
soon  be  extinct,  it  is  said  that  an  old  man  pointed  to 
the  broad  ocean,  and  exclaimed,  "  There  is  a  green 
pasture  where  our  children's  grandchildren  will  go  for 
bread."  The  first  "  deep  whaling,"  as  it  was  called, 
to  distinguish  it  from  "  shore  whaling,"  was  performed 
in  vessels  of  about  thirty  tons,  which  made  cruises  of 
about  six  weeks.  The  business  increased  so  rapidly 
that  in  a  short  time  Nantucket  did  not  furnish  seamen 
enough  to  man  the  vessels,  and  recourse  was  had  to 
Cape  Cod,  and  the  shores  westward  as  far  as  Long 
Island.  Larger  craft  were  now  employed,  and  they 
ventured  as  far  as  the  Azores,  and  even  into  Davis' 
Straits,  to  the  coast  of  Guiana  and  Brazil.  As  early 
as  1768,  the  number  of  vessels  had  increased  to  125, 
and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution,  they 
exceeded  150.  Every  person  engaged  in  these 
voyages,  had  a  share  in  the  property  of  the  vessel ; 
and  while  she  was  at  sea,  the  owners  at  home  were 
busily  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  casks,  iron- 
work, cordage,  blocks,  &c.,  for  the  next  voyage. 
Thus,  all  the  profits  of  the  labor  were  widely  distri- 
buted, and  the  voyages  were  rendered  advantageous, 
even  when  the  oil  obtained  was  barely  sufficient  to 
pay  the  outfits,  estimating  the  labor  as  a  part.  This 
mode  of  conducting  the  business  was  universal,  and 
has  continued  to  a  considerable  extent  down  to  the 
present  day. 

The  revolutionary  war  put  an  entire  stop  to  the 
Nantucket  whale  fishery;  but  with  the  return  of 
peace,  it  again  revived.  In  1791,  the  first  Nantucket 
whaler  ventured  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Some  sue- 


40  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

cessful  cruises  had  been  made  on  the  western  coast  of 
South  America,  by  British  ships,  which  encouraged 
the  people  of  Nantucket  to  extend  their  fishery  to  that 
quarter.  The  vessels  first  sent  out,  returned  loaded 
with  oil,  and  reported  that  whales  were  plenty,  the 
seas  favorable  for  fishing,  and  the  climate  of  those 
regions  healthy.  This  was  sufficient  encouragement, 
notwithstanding  the  length  of  the  voyage ;  and  the 
South  Sea  was  soon  frequented  by  a  considerable  fleet 
of  American  whalers.  The  Spaniards  threatened 
hostilities  against  them  for  invading  their  seas,  and 
actually  detained  some  of  the  ships,  which  put  into 
their  harbors  ;  but  these  difficulties  were  soon  removed, 
and  the  South  Sea  whale  fishery  was  pursued  without 
molestation. 

The  business  again  suffered  an  interruption  by  the 
war  of  1812 ;  but  it  was  re-commenced  with  new 
spirit  after  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  Before  this  period, 
the  people  of  New  Bedford  had  also  engaged  in  it,  and 
subsequently,  it  extended  to  New  London,  Long 
Island,  and  several  other  places. 

The  following  adventure  with  a  spermaceti  whale, 
is  related  by  Mr.  Beale.  "On  the  morning  of  the 
18th  of  June,  1832,  while  we  were  fishing  off  Japan, 
we  fell  in  with  an  immense  sperm  whale,  which 
happened  to  be  just  the  sort  we  required  to  com- 
plete our  cargo.  Three  boats  were  immediately  low- 
ered to  give  him  chase,  but  the  whale  from  some  cause 
or  other,  appeared  wild  in  its  actions,  long  before  it 
had  seen  any  of  our  boats,  although  it  might  have 
been  chased  the  day  before,  by  some  other  ship.  It 
was  greatly  different  in  its  actions  from  most  other 


THE   WHALE    FISHERY.  41 

large  whales,  because  it  never  went  steadily  upon  one 
course.  If  he  '  peaked  his  flukes,'  or  went  down  going 
to  the  southward,  we  expected  he  would  continue  that 
course  under  water,  but  when  he  again  rose,  perhaps 
he  was  two  or  three  miles  away  from  the  boats  to  the 
northward.  In  this  manner  he  dodged  us  about  till 
near  4  P.  M.,  at  which  time  the  men  were  dreadfully 
exhausted  from  their  exertions  in  the  chase,  which  had 
been  conducted  under  a  broiling  sun,  with  the  ther- 
mometer standing  in  the  shade  at  93°.  About  half 
past  four,  however,  Captain  Swain  contrived  by  the 
most  subtle  management,  and  great  physical  exertions, 
to  get  near  the  monster,  when  he  immediately  struck 
him  with  the  harpoon  with  his  own  hands,  and  before 
he  had  time  to  recover  from  the  blow,  he  managed 
with  his  usual  dexterity,  to  give  him  two  fatal  wounds 
with  the  lance,  which  caused  the  blood  to  flow  from 
the  blow-holes  in  abundance.  The  whale  after  the 
last  lance,  immediately  descended  below  the  surface, 
and  the  captain  felt  certain  that  he  was  going  to 
*  sound,'  but  in  this  he  was  much  mistaken,  for  a  few 
minutes  after  his  descent,  he  again  rose  to  the  surface 
with  great  velocity,  and  striking  the  boat  with  the 
front  part  of  his  head,  threw  it  high  into  the  air,  with 
the  men  and  everything  contained  therein,  fracturing 
it  to  atoms,  and  scattering  its  crew  widely  about. 

"  While  the  men  were  endeavoring  to  save  them- 
selves from  drowning,  by  clinging  to  the  oars  and 
pieces  of  the  wreck  of  the  boat,  the  enormous  animal 
was  seen  swimming  round  and  round  them,  appearing 
as  if  meditating  an  attack  with  his  flukes,  which  if  he 
had  thought  proper  to  do  in  return  for  the  grievous 
4* 


42  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

wounds  that  he  had  himself  received,  a  few  strokes  of 
his  ponderous  tail  would  soon  have  destroyed  his  ene- 
mies ;  but  this  was  not  attempted.  They  had  now 
nothing  to  hope  for  but  the  arrival  of  the  other  boats 
to  relieve  them  from  their  dangerous  situation,  ren- 
dered more  so  by  the  appearance  of  several  large 
sharks  attracted  by  the  blood  which  flowed  from  the 
whale,  which  were  sometimes  only  a  few  feet  from 
them,  and  also  by  the  inability  of  one  of  the  boat's 
crew  to  swim,  by  which  three  or  four  of  his  mates 
were  much  exhausted  in  their  efforts  to  save  him. 
This  they  succeeded  in  doing,  after  having  lashed  two 
or  three  oars  across  the  stern  of  the  boat,  which  hap- 
pened to  be  not  much  fractured,  upon  which  they 
placed  their  helpless  fellow-adventurer.  After  they 
had  remained  in  the  water  about  three  quarters  of  an 
hour,  assisting  themselves  by  clinging  to  pieces  of  the 
wreck,  one  of  the  other  boats  arrived  and  took  them 
in.  But  although  these  brave  men  had  been  so 
defeated,  they  were  not  subdued.  The  moment  they 
entered  the  boat,  their  immediate  determination  was 
for  another  attack  upon  the  immense  creature  which 
remained  close  by,  while  the  other  boat  which  was 
pulling  towards  them  with  all  the  strength  of  its 
rowers,  would  still  be  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  it 
could  arrive. 

"  Captain  Swain  with  twelve  men  in  one  boat, 
therefore,  made  another  attack  upon  the  whale  with 
the  lance,  which  caused  it  to  throw  up  blood  from  the 
blow-holes  in  increased  quantities.  We  who  were  on 
board  the  ship  and  had  observed  from  a  great  distance 
by  means  of  the  telescope,  the  whole  of  the  occur- 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  43 

rence,  were  employed  in  beating  the  ship  towards 
them ;  but  they  were  far  to  windward,  and  the  wind 
being  rather  light,  we  had  even  our  royal-sails  set. 
Soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  third  boat,  the  whale 
went  into  its  flurry,  and  soon  died ;  when  to  the  dis- 
may of  the  boat's  crew,  it  sunk,  and  never  rose  again ; 
an  occurrence  which  is  not  very  unfrequent,  owing, 
of  course,  to  the  greater  specific  gravity  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Such  were  the  adventures  of  that  day,  in  the 
evening  of  which  the  crews  returned  to  the  ship, 
worn  out  and  dispirited,  having  lost  a  favorite  boat, 
with  the  whole  of  her  instruments,  besides  the  last 
whale  wanted  to  complete  the  cargo,  and  worth  at 
least,  2500  dollars." 

Numerous  stories  are  told  of  fighting  whales,  many 
of  which  are  probably  much  exaggerated.  A  large 
whale  called  Timor  Jack,  is  the  hero  of  many  strange 
tales,  such  as  of  his  destroying  every  boat  which  was 
sent  out  against  him,  until  a  contrivance  was  hit  upon 
by  lashing  a  barrel  to  the  harpoon,  by  which  he  was 
struck,  and  whilst  his  attention  was  divided  among 
several  boats,  means  were  found  to  give  him  his  death 
wound.  In  the  year  1804,  the  ship  Adonis  being  in 
company  with  several  others,  struck  a  large  whale  off 
the  coast  of  New  Zealand,  which  stove  and  destroyed 
nine  boats  before  breakfast,  and  the  chase  conse- 
quently was  given  up.  After  destroying  boats 
belonging  to  many  ships,  this  whale  was  at  last 
captured,  and  the  numerous  harpoons  of  the  vari- 
ous boats  that  had  from  time  to  time  been  sent  out 
against  him,  were  found  sticking  in  his  body.  This 


44  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

whale  was  called  New  Zealand  Tom,  and  the  tradi- 
tion is  carefully  preserved  by  the  whalers. 

The  following  account  of  the  attack  of  a  whale  upon  a 
ship,  is  perfectly  well  authenticated.  The  ship  Essex, 
Captain  George  Pollard,  sailed  from  Nantucket,  on 
the  12th  of  August,  1819,  on  a  whaling  voyage  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  On  the  20th  of  November,  whales 
were  discovered.  In  pursuing  them,  the  mate's  boat 
was  stove,  which  obliged  him  to  return  to  the  ship, 
when  they  commenced  repairing  the  damage.  The 
captain  and  the  second  mate  were  left  with  their  boats 
pursuing  the  whale.  During  this  interval,  the  mate 
discovered  a  large  spermaceti  whale  near  the  ship,  but 
not  suspecting  any  danger,  it  gave  the  crew  no  alarm, 
till  they  saw  the  whale  coming  with  full  speed  towards 
them.  In  a  moment,  they  were  astonished  by  a  tre- 
mendous crash.  The  whale  had  struck  the  ship  a  lit- 
tle forward  of  the  fore-chains.  It  was  some  minutes 
before  the  crew  could  recover  from  their  astonishment 
so  far  as  to  examine  whether  any  damage  had  been 
sustained.  They  tried  their  pumps  and  found  that 
the  ship  was  sinking ;  a  signal  was  immediately  made 
for  the  boats.  The  whale  was  now  seen  again  making 
toward  the  vessel.  He  came  on  with  great  velocity, 
causing  the  water  to  foam  all  around  him,  and  si  ruck 
the  ship  a  second  blow,  which  nearly  stove  in  her 
bows. 

There  was  now  no  hope  of  saving  the  ship,  and  the 
only  resort  was  to  leave  her  in  all  possible  expedition. 
They  hastily  collected  a  few  things,  threw  themselves 
into  the  boat,  and  shoved  off.  The  ship  immediately 
fell  upon  one  side,  and  sunk  to  the  water's  edge. 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  45 

When  the  two  other  boats  joined  them,  such  was  the 
consternation  that  for  some  time  not  a  word  was 
spoken  by  any  one.  The  danger  of  their  situation  at 
length  aroused  the  men  as  from  a  terrific  dream  to  a 
no  less  terrific  reality.  They  remained  by  the  wreck 
two  or  three  days,  in  which  time  they  cut  away  the 
masts,  which  caused  her  to  right  a  little.  By  cutting 
holes  in  the  deck  they  obtained  bread,  water,  and  some 
other  articles.  They  then  left  the  ship  with  as  gloomy 
a  prospect  before  them  as  can  well  be  imagined.  The 
nearest  land  was  about  a  thousand  miles  to  windward 
of  them  :  their  boats  were  leaky,  and  their  supply  of 
bread  and  water  short  for  so  long  a  voyage.  They 
steered  southerly  by  the  wind,  in  hopes  of  falling  in 
with  some  ship,  but  in  this  they  were  disappointed. 

After  being  in  their  boats  twenty-eight  days,  suffer- 
ing much  from  gales  of  wind,  want  of  water,  &c., 
they  reached  Dacre's  Island,  where  they  found  water, 
but  little  food.  Three  of  the  crew  chose  to  stay  here 
and  take  their  chance  of  the  arrival  of  a  ship.  The 
others  left  the  place  and  steered  for  Easter  Island,  but 
missed  it  by  falling  to  leeward.  They  then  directed 
their  course  to  Juan  Fernandez,  which  lay  about  2000 
miles  to  the  E.  S.  E.  One  of  them  died  on  the  10th 
of  January,  and  on  the  12th,  the  mate's  boat  sepa- 
rated from  the  other  two ;  and  on  the  19th,  these  like- 
wise separated. 

One  of  the  boats  was  never  afterwards  heard  of. 
The  other  two  were  taken  up  by  ships  after  the  most 
dreadful  sufferings,  of  such  of  the  crew  as  survived, 
who  were  only  five.  The  men  on  the  island  were 
fortunately  taken  off. 


46  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

Notwithstanding  occasional  accidents,  however, 
which  have  led  some  persons  to  imagine  that  the 
whale  fishery  is  a  most  perilous  pursuit,  involving  the 
sacrifice  of  much  property,  and  the  destruction  of 
many  lives,  yet  such  have  been  the  personal  courage, 
firmness,  skill  and  nautical  experience  brought  into 
action  in  this  branch  of  American  commerce,  that  the 
losses  of  the  past  year,  1844,  have  not  exceeded  one 
half  of  one  per  cent,  upon  the  amount  of  navigation 
comprised  in  the  business. 

The  following  are  the  Statistics  of  the  American 
whale  fishery  for  1844 : 

NUMBER    OF    VESSELS    EMPLOYED. 

Ships,  504 

Barques,  140 

Brigs,  33 

Schooners,  19 


Total,  696 

PRODUCTS. 

Sperm  Oil,  138,595  barrels. 

Black  or  Whale  Oil,  267,082       « 

Whalebone,  3,015,145  pounds. 

It  is  stated  that  the  French  have  but  twelve  or 
fifteen  ships  now  engaged  in  this  branch  of  enterprise. 
The  whale  ships  of  Great  Britain,  amounted  in  1839, 
to  about  150,  and  the  quantity  of  oil  obtained,  was 
about  16,885  tons.  It  is  generally  believed  that  the 
whale  fishery  throughout  the  world  is  on  the  decline, 
owing  in  part  to  the  diminution  of  the  whales,  and  partly 
from  the  substitution  of  other  articles  for  whale  oil. 


THE    WHALE    FISHERY.  47 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  swine  of  our  western 
states,  are  now  supplying  great  quantities  of  lard  oil, 
and  are  thus  coming  into  competition  with  the  great 
monsters  of  the  deep. 

There  is  no  human  pursuit,  which  more  strikingly 
exhibits  the  enterprising  character  of  man,  than  this 
of  the  whale  fishery.  The  first  idea  of  attacking  and 
capturing  an  animal  many  thousand  times  his  weight 
and  strength,  and  in  his  own  element,  must  have 
been  deemed  even  more  extravagant  than  the  fabled 
exploits  of  Hercules  or  Theseus.  The  actual  priva- 
tions and  dangers  of  the  whaleman,  would  appal  the 
heart  of  most  landsmen,  could  they  see  them  assem- 
bled in  a  single  picture.  Many  of  these  adventurers 
leave  their  families  for  one,  two,  and  even  three  years. 
During  this  period,  they  are  alone  upon  the  briny 
desert;  and  while  separated  from  the  charities  of 
home,  they  are  often  contending  with  the  tempest  and 
the  wave,  or  engaged  in  deadly  encounter  with  the  great 
leviathan  of  the  deep.  It  is  probable  that  few  persons 
living  upon  the  land,  have  any  adequate  practical 
conception  of  the  wild  adventures,  the  imminent  peril, 
and  the  stern  hardships,  experienced  by  the  whale- 
men during  every  voyage. 

But  if  the  dangers  and  privations  of  the  whale  fish- 
ery are  great,  its  beneficent  results  are  an  adequate 
compensation.  It  is  impossible  to  compass  in  a  single 
view,  the  blessings  bestowed  upon  mankind  by  this 
branch  of  enterprise.  There  is  no  member  of  society 
who  is  not  indebted  to  this  source  for  many  of  his  en- 
joyments. Let  the  ladies  consider  that  the  perfection  of 
their  stays,  is  derived  from  whalebone,  and  let  him  who 


48  THE    WHALE    FISHERY. 

carries  an  umbrella,  make  a  similar  reflection.  Let  the 
traveller  who  glides  along  twelve  miles  an  hour  in  a 
steamboat,  or  twenty-five  in  a  locomotive,  consider  that 
he  is  under  obligation  to  the  whaler  for  the  oil,  which 
thus  smooths  his  way  and  expedites  his  journey.  Let 
the  man  who  buys  cotton  for  a  shirt  at  ten  cents  a 
yard,  thank  the  whaler,  for  it  was  whale  oil  that  lubri- 
cated the  machinery  which  produced  it.  Let  every 
human  being  that  wears  cloth,  or  consumes  any  other 
article  produced  by  machinery,  acknowledge  the  obli- 
gation he  owes  to  the  daring  perseverance  of  the 
Avhaler,  for  these  are  all,  in  some  degree,  the  result  of 
his  toil  and  his  enterprise.  Let  even  the  dainty  read- 
ers of  books,  consider  that  by  the  light  which  is  the  pro- 
duct of  the  whalemen's  skill,  its  pages  are,  perhaps, 
composed ;  and  let  every  family  circle,  happy  and  cheer- 
ful in  the  blaze  of  the  astral  lamp,  remember  that  they, 
too,  owe  their  enjoyment,  in  part,  to  these  adventurous 
men  of  the  harpoon.  Let  even  the  members  of  the 
brilliant  evening  party  remember,  that  the  light  which 
gleams  from  ranges  of  spermaceti  tapers,  and  bestows 
on  beauty  more  bewitching  charms,  is  the  fruit  of  the 
seaman's  danger  and  the  seaman's  privation.  Alas, 
how  "  little  do  one  part  of  the  world  consider  in  what 
manner  the  rest  live !"  While  the  dance  and  song 
enthral  the  gay  circle  of  the  saloon — how  far  are  the 
joyous  throng  from  reflecting  that  thousands  of  their 
fellow-beings  are  upon  the  treacherous  wave,  toiling 
and  suffering,  to  provide  a  luxurious  light  to  shine 
upon  their  pleasures ! 


THE    SEAL    FISHERY.  49 


THE    SEAL    FISHERY. 

THE  seal  belongs  to  the  class  of  animals  called  by 
naturalists  Amphibia,  and  is  of  the  same  genus  as  the 
walrus,  manatus,  sea  lion,  sea  cow,  &c.  It  resembles 
at  once  a  fish  and  quadruped.  Its  head  is  round,  and 
its  eye  full  and  sparkling,  giving  its  countenance  a 
human  like  expression.  It  has  four  feet,  but  they  are 
stuck  on  like  fins  and  are  covered  with  a  membrane,  so 
as  to  make  it  look  like  a  child  with  a  shirt  on, 
covering  the  hands  and  feet.  It  swims  with  great 
dexterity,  but  moves  awkwardly  on  land.  The  seal 
gives  a  large  quantity  of  oil,  which  is  similar  to  fish 
oil ;  but  its  skin  is  the  chief  object  of  pursuit.  It  has 
a  coat  of  fine  compact  fur,  covered  by  coarse  glossy 
hair.  To  the  Esquimaux,  the  seal  is  the  great  source 
of  life  and  comfort ;  in  civilized  countries,  its  skin  is 
used  for  caps,  gloves,  collar  and  cuffs  of  coats,  and  a 
variety  of  other  uses. 

This  animal  is  found  on  all  the  Arctic  coasts,  and 
also  on  some  of  the  Antarctic  islands.  Great  numbers 
have  formerly  been  killed  on  the  Falkland  and  South 
Shetland  Islands,  and  several  vessels  from  New  Eng- 
land were  formerly  engaged  in  catching  them  there. 
The  great  resort  of  them,  at  present,  is  in  the  seas 
adjacent  to  the  northern  coasts  of  North  America,  and 
in  the  region  of  Spitzbergen.  They  are  gregarious, 
and  fond  of  collecting  upon  the  ice ;  on  the  masses 
which  drift  southward  in  March  and  April,  from  the 
Arctic  seas,  thousands  of  them  journey  from  these 
colder  to  somewhat  warmer  latitudes.  These  migrat- 

D  XVIII. — 5 


50  THE    SEAL   FISHERY. 

ing  herds  are  the  great  resource  of  the  Newfoundland 
seal  fishers. 

Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  terrific  gran- 
deur of  the  lofty  islands  and  mountains  of  ice,  cover- 
ing often  from  two  to  three  hundred  miles  of  the 
ocean,  and  occasionally  arrested  by  the  coasts  or  shoals 
in  this  quarter,  will  have  some  adequate  idea  of  the 
dangers  of  such  a  pursuit.  From  three  to  four  hun- 
dred vessels  of  60  to  120  tons,  are  sent  out  from  the 
different  ports  of  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia,  to 
carry  on  the  seal  fishery.  They  are  prepared  for 
sea  with  necessary  stores  and  fire-arms,  poles  to 
defend  themselves  from  the  ice,  &c.,  before  the  feast 
of  St.  Patrick,  which  occurs  on  the  seventeenth  of 
March.  Immediately  after,  the  crews  at  the  harbors 
then  frozen  over,  collect  together,  with  assistance  from 
the  shoremen,  and  dividing  into  two  rows  on  the  ice, 
mark  out  a  channel  wide  enough  for  their  largest  ves- 
sels to  pass.  Then  with  axes  and  large  saws,  each 
party  cuts  along  its  line  and  divides  the  solid  mass  of 
ice  into  squares,  which  are  shoved  underneath  at  the 
sides  by  long  poles.  By  this  laborious  operation  a 
channel  is  opened  and  the  vessels  pass  out. 

On  getting  to  sea,  the  fishermen  find  themselves 
surrounded  by  drift  ice ;  but  they  push  their  way 
through  the  openings,  until  they  meet  with  the  herds  of 
seal  that  accompany  the  frozen  masses,  which  at  this 
season,  drift  southward  from  the  polar  seas.  These 
are  called  "seal  meadows."  The  animals  are  sur- 
prised while  sleeping  on  the  ice,  and  shot  with  mus- 
kets, or  knocked  down  with  clubs.  The  old  ones 
sometimes  turn  upon  their  assailants  and  make  resist- 


THE    SEAL    FISHERY.  51 

ance.  The  hooded-seals  will  draw  their  hoods,  which 
are  bullet-proof,  over  their  heads.  The  skins,  with 
the  fat  surrounding  the  bodies,  are  stripped  off 
together,  and  the  scalped  carcasses  left  on  the  ice. 
The  pelts,  or  scalps,  are  carried  to  the  vessel,  and 
packed  closely  in  the  hold ;  but  the  weather  is  often 
such  as  to  leave  no  time  to  scalp  the  seals  on  the  ice, 
and  they  are  then  carried  whole  to  the  vessel.  The 
situation  of  the  seal-hunters  during  the  storms  of 
snow  and  sleet,  which  are  unavoidable  at  that  season, 
is  most  hazardous.  Many  vessels  have  been  crushed 
in  pieces  by  masses  of  ice  closing  on  them,  and  their 
crews  have  perished. 

The  fat,  or  seal-blubber,  is  separated  from  the 
skins,  cut  in  pieces,  and  put  into  frame-work  nets, 
through  which  and  small  boughs  inside,  the  oil  oozes 
on  being  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun.  In  three  or 
four  weeks,  it  runs  rapidly  off,  and  becomes  the  seal 
oil  of  commerce.  Seals  are  also  caught  at  Newfound- 
land and  Labrador,  by  strong  nets  set  across  such  nar- 
row channels  as  they  are  in  the  habit  of  passing 
through. 

The  seal  fishery  is  extensively  pursued  in  the  Arctic 
regions.  The  best  situation  is  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Jan  Mayen's  Island ;  and  the  most  favorable  sea- 
son is  March  and  April.  When  the  boats  from  the 
seal  ships  arrive  on  the  ice,  the  men  attack  the  animals 
with  clubs,  and  stun  them,  by  a  single  blow  over  the 
nose ;  by  this  means,  one  person  is  able  to  capture  a 
large  number  of  seals.  When  they  are  seen  on  pieces 
of  drift  ice,  they  are  hunted  in  boats,  each  boat  pursu- 
ing a  different  herd.  Should  the  seals  attempt  to 


52  THE    SEAL     FISHERY. 

leave  the  ice  before  the  arrival  of  the  boat,  the  men 
shout  as  loud  as  possible,  and  produce  such  amaze- 
ment among  them  by  this  uproar,  as  to  delay  their 
flight  till  the  boat  arrives,  and  the  work  of  destruction 
is  begun.  When  the  seals  are  very  numerous,  the 
sealers  stop  not  to  flay  those  they  have  killed,  but  set 
off  to  another  ice-field  to  attack  others,  leaving  merely 
one  man  behind,  to  take  off  the  skins  and  fat.  When 
the  condition  of  the  ice  forbids  the  use  of  boats,  the 
hunter  is  obliged  to  pursue  the  seals  over  it,  jumping 
from  fragment  to  fragment,  till  the  prey  is  overtaken. 

Whale  ships  have  sometimes  accidentally  fallen  in 
with  herds  of  seals,  and  secured  two  or  three  thousand 
of  them.  The  business  is  pursued  even  to  the  borders 
of  the  Spitzbergen  ice,  but  it  is  very  hazardous,  and 
many  ships  with  all  their  crews  have  been  destroyed 
by  the  sudden  storms  which  spring  up  in  that  danger- 
ous neighborhood. 

The  Esquimaux  hunt  the  seal  in  various  ways, 
according  to  circumstances.  This  animal  is  pecu- 
liarly vigilant,  and  whenever  a  herd  of  them  visit  the 
shore,  some  are  always  on  the  lookout ;  and  a  seal 
when  alone,  is  observed  very  frequently  to  raise  its 
head  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  approach  of 
enemies.  Should  they  be  on  a  large  field  of  ice,  they 
are  always  careful  to  secure  a  retreat  by  lying  near  the 
edge  of  it,  or  keeping  a  hole  in  the  ice  always  open 
before  them.  In  the  high  northern  latitudes  during 
winter,  the  seal  is  found  many  miles  from  any  open 
water,  and  he  makes  a  circular  hole  through  the  ice, 
even  where  it  is  several  feet  thick.  This  opening  is 
continually  kept  clear,  and  allows  the  entrance  of  the 


THE    SEAL  FISHERY.  53 

animal's  body,  the  top  being  permitted  partially  to 
freeze  over.  These  breathing-places  bear  a  consider- 
able resemblance  to  mole-hills,  and  have  a  small 
crack  through  their  upper  part. 

When  this  breathing-place  is  discovered  by  the 
Esquimaux,  he  raises  near  it  a  small  wall  about  four 
feet  high,  of  slabs  of  snow,  to  shelter  himself  from  the 
wind,  and  sits  under  the  lee  of  it,  having  deposited  his 
spear,  lines,  and  other  implements,  upon  several  little 
forked  sticks  set  up  in  the  snow,  in  order  to  avoid 
making  the  slightest  noise  in  moving  them  when  they 
are  wanted.  The  most  curious  precaution  taken  with 
a  similar  design,  is  that  of  tying  his  own  knees 
together  with  a  thong,  to  prevent  any  rustling  of  his 
dress,  which  would  alarm  his  vigilant  prey.  In  this 
situation,  the  Esquimaux  will  frequently  sit  for  many 
hours,  when  the  thermometer  is  below  zero,  atten- 
tively listening  to  ascertain  whether  the  animal  is 
working  below.  When  he  thinks  the  hole  is  almost 
completed,  he  carefully  raises  his  spear,  to  which  the 
line  is  previously  tied,  and  the  moment  the  breathing 
of  the  seal  is  distinctly  heard,  the  ice  being  then,  of 
course,  very  thin,  he  strikes  the  spear  into  him  with 
both  hands,  and  cuts  away  the  ice  with  his  knife  to 
repeat  the  blow.  At  other  times,  having  enlarged  the 
breathing-place,  the  hunter  takes  his  position  behind 
the  shelter,  and  the  animal,  when  he  next  comes  to  the 
hole,  rises  fearlessly  out  of  the  water,  exposing  his 
head  and  shoulders,  and  repeats  this  action  with 
increased  confidence.  As  he  is  not  in  haste  to  dive 
again,  the  hunter  now  starts  up  suddenly,  and  drives 
his  spear  forcibly  into  him.  Another  method  consists 
5* 


54  THE    SEAL   FISHERY. 

f 

in  covering  the  breathing-hole  with  light  snow,  and 
making  an  opening  through  the  top  of  it  with  the 
spear-handle,  about  as  large  as  the  mouth  of  a  bottle. 
The  hunter  then  withdraws  his  spear  and  takes  his 
place  behind  the  snow-screen,  listening  carefully  till 
he  hears  the  seal  breathing  through  the  snow,  when 
he  silently  rises  and  plunges  his  weapon  through  the 
covering  into  the  body  of  the  animal. 

When  a  company  of  seals  are  seen  on  the  edge  of 
the  ice,  next  to  the  open  sea,  the  hunters  dispose  them- 
selves in  single  file,  so  as  to  conceal  their  number  and 
appear  as  few  as  possible,  when  viewed  from  the  point 
towards  which  they  are  moving.  In  this  manner, 
they  creep  cautiously  towards  the  edge  of  the  ice. 
When  nearly  close  enough  to  throw  the  spear,  they 
all  crouch  low,  and  remain  in  this  position  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  during  which  time,  they  get  all 
their  implements  ready  for  immediate  service.  Then, 
when  the  seals  are  intercepted  from  view,  they  creep 
forward,  gaining  a  few  paces  at  a  time,  until  they 
approach  close  enough  to  throw  the  spear,  which  is 
done  suddenly,  and  with  full  force.  This  mode  of 
hunting  is  occasionally  attended  by  fatal  consequences 
to  the  Esquimaux,  especially  if  the  ice  be  of  recent 
formation,  as  large  cakes  are  detached  at  times,  by 
the  force  of  the  tide,  and  swept  out  to  sea,  without 
allowing  the  slightest  opportunity  for  escape. 

The  extent  of  the  seal  fishery  is  matter  of  surprise 
to  those  who  have  not  investigated  the  subject.  A 
single  vessel  will  sometimes  secure  five  thousand 
skins,  and  more  than  a  hundred  tons  of  oil,  in  one 
season.  In  1829,  280,613  seals  were  taken  by  the 


THE    SEAL    FISHERY.  55 

Newfoundland  fishermen.  In  1830,  553,435  ;  in  1831, 
748,735;  making  1,582,783  animals,  caught  in  three 
years  !  The  value  of  the  undressed  skins  in  London, 
is  about  twenty-two  to  thirty-five  cents,  each ;  the  oil 
is  there  worth  from  $110,  to  $120,  per  tun. 

We  are  little  apt  to  consider  the  romance  which  is 
involved  in  the  history  of  many  of  our  commonest 
comforts.  The  boy  with  his  seal  skin  cap  is  content 
to  feel  its  warmth  in  the  bitter  breath  of  winter,  with- 
out reflecting  upon  the  tale  that  cap  could  tell,  if  it 
were  gifted  with  speech.  Its  original  owner  was  born 
and  nursed  upon  an  Arctic  shore,  where  winter  holds 
an  almost  eternal  dominion.  There,  amid  fields  of  ice, 
and  in  daily  familiarity  with  the  whale,  the  walrus, 
and  the  white  bear,  it  pursued  its  joyous  and  sportive 
career.  Diving  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  or  migrat- 
ing on  floating  fields  of  ice,  it  seemed  forever  happy  in 
companionship  with  its  fellows,  and  gave  even  to  the 
ghastly  scenes  of  the  Arctic  world,  an  aspect  of  cheer- 
fulness. At  length  it  was  slain  by  the  spear  of  the 
Esquimaux,  or  the  club  of  the  sealer ;  the  skin  was 
stripped  off,  and  transported  to  Europe.  Having 
undergone  a  process  of  dressing,  it  crossed  the  Atlan- 
tic, passed  under  the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer, 
reached  the  shop  of  the  furrier,  and  after  due  confor- 
mation from  the  sheers  and  needle,  arrived  at  its 
ultimate  destination  on  the  school  boy's  pate  ! 


56  THE    COD    FISHERY. 


THE    COD  FISHERY. 

THE  cod  belongs  to  the  migrating  fishes,  and  is  found 
only  in  northern  seas.  Its  food  consists  of  small  fish, 
worms,  crabs  and  other  Crustacea.  It  is  very  vora- 
cious, and  has  been  known  to  weigh  seventy-five 
pounds.  It  is  found  along  the  New  England  coasts, 
but  its  chief  place  of  resort  is  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land. These  seem  to  be  the  top  of  a  sea  mountain, 
five  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  surrounded  by  a 
deep  sea.  Hither,  in  early  spring,  the  cod  annually 
repair  in  countless  numbers,  to  feed  on  the  worms 
which  are  found  on  the  banks,  and  here  the  fishermen 
pursue  them. 

The  Newfoundland  cod  fishery  commences  early  in 
June.  The  "  bankers,"  or  vessels  fishing  on  the  banks, 
usually  anchor  where  they  find  plenty  of  cod,  which  they 
catch  with  hook  and  line.  The  fish  are  salted  in  bulk 
in  the  vessel's  hold,  till  the  cargo  is  completed.  The 
fish  caught  on  the  banks,  are  larger  than  those  taken 
by  the  boats  employed  in  the  shore  fishery,  but  they 
do  not  look  so  well  when  cured,  owing  to  their  lying 
so  long  in  salt  before  drying.  They  are,  however, 
preferred  in  some  markets,  on  account  of  their  size. 

The  boats  which  the  Newfoundlanders  use  for  the 
shore  fishery  are  of  different  sizes,  some  requiring 
only  two  hands,  while  others  have  four,  which  is  the 
general  number.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  boys  and 
girls,  when  the  cod  are  plentiful,  fishing  in  these 
boats.  Every  fisher  is  provided  with  two  lines,  each 
having  two  hooks.  Both  lines  are  thrown  out  at  the 


THE    COD    FISHERY.  57 

same  time,  one  on  each  side  of  the  boat,  to  which  one 
man  attends.  They  use  such  kind  of  bait  as  happens 
to  be  in  season,  as  herring,  mackerel,  caplins,  squids, 
clams,  &c.,  and  when  none  of  these  are  to  be  had,  the 
flesh  of  birds.  Many  fish  are  also  taken  by  the 
jigger  ;  this  is  a  piece  of  lead  made  into  the  form  of  a 
small  fish,  with  two  hooks  fixed  into  its  mouth,  and 
turned  outward,  in  opposite  directions.  It  is  made 
fast  to  a  line  which  is  thrown  over  into  the  sea,  and  by 
jerking  it  up  and  down,  the  hooks  fasten  into  such 
fish  as  they  happen  to  strike.  The  cod,  which  is  one 
of  the  least  dainty  of  the  finny  tribes,  also  darts  at 
and  swallows  the  artificial  fish  with  the  hooks  fastened 
to  it.  Vast  quantities  of  cod  are  also  caught  with 
seines. 

When  the  boats  are  stationed  on  the  fishing-ground, 
which  is  sometimes  within  the  harbors,  and  in  the 
early  season  near,  the  shore,  the  men  sit  or  stand  at 
equal  distances  from  the  gunwales,  and  each  attends 
to  his  own  lines.  So  abundant  are  the  fish  at  times, 
that  a  couple  of  cod  are  hooked  on  each  line  before 
the  lead  reaches  the  bottom ;  and  while  one  line  is 
running  out,  the  fisherman  has  only  to  turn  round  and 
pull  in  the  other  with  a  fish  on  each  hook.  In  this 
way  they  fill  the  boat  in  a  very  short  time.  They 
then  proceed  to  the  stage  on  shore  with  the  fish,  when 
the  operations  of  splitting  and  salting  succeed.  Fish 
should  be  brought  on  shore  within  forty-eight  hours 
after  being  caught ;  but  when  plentiful,  the  boats  often 
return  in  two  or  three  hours,  and  push  away  again, 
immediately  after  the  fish  is  thrown  on  the  stage. 
This  is  a  building  erected  on  posts  jutting  out  into  the 


58  THE    COD    FISHERY. 

sea  far  enough  to  allow  the  boats  to  come  close  to  its 
end.  On  the  same  platform  stands  the  salt-house,  in 
which  there  are  tables  with  strong  wooden  stools  for 
four  important  personages,  called,  cut-throat,  header, 
splitter  and  salter. 

The  fish  is  thrown  with  a  kind  of  pike  upon  the 
stage,  and  carried  generally  by  boys  or  women  to  the 
long  table.  The  business  of  the  cut-throat,  as  his 
name  implies,  is  to  cut  the  throat  of  the  fish  to  the 
bone,  and  rip  open  its  bowels ;  he  then  passes  it 
quickly  to  the  header,  who,  with  a  sudden  wrench, 
pulls  off  the  head  and  tears  out  the  entrails,  passing 
the  fish  instantaneously  to  the  splitter,  and  at  the  same 
moment  separating  the  liver  and  precipitating  the  head 
and  entrails  through  a  hole  in  the  platform  into  the 
sea  under  the  stage  floor.  The  splitter,  with  one  cut, 
lays  the  fish  open  from  head  to  tail,  and  almost  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  with  another  cut,  takes  out  the 
sound-bone,  which,  if  the  sounds  are  not  to  be  pre- 
served, he  lets  fall  through  a  hole  into  the  sea,  throw- 
ing the  fish  at  the  same  moment  into  a  barrow.  Such 
is  the  surprizing  quickness  of  the  operation  of  heading 
and  splitting,  that  it  is  not  unusual  to  despatch  six  fish 
in  a  minute.  The  process  is  essentially  the  same  on 
board  the  American  banker  fishers;  the  superfluous 
parts  of  the  fish  are  tossed  overboard,  and  it  is  said 
that  expert  operators  will  keep  a  cod's  head  perpetually 
in  the  air. 

The  business  of  the  salter  is  most  important,  as  the 
value  of  the  whole  cargo  depends  on  his  care  and 
judgment.  Some  fish  are  dry-salted,  and  others 
cured  in  vats  with  pickle ;  these  require  less  salt  and 


THE    COD   FISHERY.  59 

surpass  the  others  in  weight;  but  they  do  not  look  so 
well,  nor  sell  for  so  high  a  price.  After  salting,  the 
fish  are  dried  by  spreading  them  in  "  flakes"  on  stag- 
ings, composed  of  small  sticks,  raised  a  few  feet  above 
the  ground.  The  Newfoundlanders  sometimes  raise 
them  twenty  feet  high,  as  the  air  aloft  is  believed  to 
be  purer.  The  fish  are  spread  out  in  the  morning, 
with  the  fleshy  side  uppermost,  and  turned  about  noon 
or  oftener,  if  the  weather  be  hot.  In  the  evening,  they 
are  gathered  into  small  heaps,  which  are  increased  in 
size  as  the  fish  dry,  from  four  or  five  to  twenty  or 
more.  When  nearly  cured,  they  are  made  into  large 
circular  piles,  much  in  the  form  of  a  haystack,  with 
the  skin  uppermost.  These  piles  are  thatched  with 
the  rinds  of  spruce  fir,  or  with  tarpaulins  or  circular 
wooden  frames,  which  are  pressed  down  with  heavy 
stones.  After  remaining  some  time  in  these  piles  to 
"  sweat,"  they  are  spread  out  again  to  complete  the 
drying,  and  then  removed  into  the  warm  houses.  As 
the  least  rain  will  spoil  the  fish,  nothing  can  exceed 
the  hurry  of  men,  women,  and  children,  on  the  shores 
of  Newfoundland,  when  showers  are  approaching; 
they  abandon  every  other  occupation,  and  even  run 
out  of  the  church  on  Sunday,  to  pile  up  the  fish. 

The  quality  of  the  fish  is  effected  by  the  least  inat- 
tention or  error  in  curing.  If  the  weather  is  hot  and 
calm,  it  is  affected  with  fly-blows,  and  becomes  mag- 
goty ;  a  few  fish  of  this  description  may  contaminate 
a  whole  cargo.  If  too  much  salt  is  used,  the  fibres 
break  in  drying,  and  the  fish  easily  falls  to  pieces ;  in 
this  state  it  is  called  "  salt-burnt,"  and  is  unfit  for 
market.  When  too  long  exposed  to  the  sun,  without 


60  THE    COD    FISHERY. 

turning,  it  is  affected  much  in  the  same  manner,  and 
is  then  called  "  sun-burnt."  In  damp  weather,  putrefac- 
tion is  apt  to  commence,  and  then  it  becomes  slimy ; 
and  when  piled  in  this  state  it  sometimes  takes  a 
brownish  color,  and  is  called  dunfish,  which  although 
excellent  for  immediate  use,  is  not  fit  for  shipping. 
Previous  to  exportation,  the  fish  are  again  spread  out 
to  dry,  when  they  are  culled  or  sorted  into  four  quali- 
ties. 

The  sounds  are  generally  taken  from  the  bones, 
and  the  tongues  are  cut  out  of  the  head  by  women, 
children  and  old  men.  They  are  pickled  in  kegs.  The 
livers  of  cod  are  put  into  vats  or  barrels  and  exposed 
to  the  sun,  by  the  heat  of  which  they  are  melted  into 
oil. 

The  greater  part  of  the  cod  fishery  is  carried  on  by 
the  Americans,  from  the  New  England  States.  By  a 
treaty  with  Great  Britain,  vessels  of  this  country 
are  allowed  to  fish  all  along  the  coast  of  British  Amer- 
ica, and  to  cure  fish  in  such  harbors  and  bays  as  are 
uninhabited,  or  if  inhabited,  with  the  consent  of  the 
people.  The  active  and  industrious  New  England- 
ers,  ever  fertile  in  expedients,  and  always  alert  in  the 
pursuit  of  gain,  know  well  how  to  take  advantage  of 
so  important  a  concession.  They,  frequently  occupy 
the  whole  of  the  Newfoundland  and  Labrador  fishing- 
ground,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  British.  No  other 
people  prosecute  the  fishery  with  such  assiduity  and 
profit.  There  are  two  modes  which  they  follow  in 
fitting  out  for  this  business.  The  one  is  when  six  or 
seven  farmers  or  their  sons,  combine  to  build  a 
schooner  during  winter,  which  they  man  themselves, 


THE    COD    FISHERY.  61 

as  all  the  New  Englanders  of  the  small  towns  on  the 
seacoast  are  more  or  less  seamen,  as  well  as  farmers. 
After  fitting  the  vessel  with  necessary  stores,  they 
proceed  to  the  banks,  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  or 
Labrador,  and  loading  their  vessel  with  fish,  make  a 
voyage  between  spring  and  the  time  for  getting  in 
their  crops.  The  proceeds  they  divide  after  paying 
for  outfit.  They  remain  at  home  to  assist  in  gather- 
ing the  harvest,  and  proceed  again  for  another  cargo 
which  is  salted  down  and  not  afterwards  dried ;  this  is 
termed  mud-fish,  and  kept  for  home  consumption. 

The  other  method  is  this ;  a  merchant  or  other  per- 
son owning  a  vessel,  lets  her  to  ten  or  fifteen  men  on 
shares.  He  finds  the  vessel  and  nets ;  the  men  pay 
for  the  provisions,  hooks  and  lines,  and  for  the  salt 
necessary  to  cure  their  proportion  of  fish.  One  of  the 
number  officiates  as  master,  but  he  is  compelled  to 
catch  fish  as  well  as  the  others,  and  receives  but 
trifling  wages.  The  crew  have  commonly  five  eighths 
of  the  fish  taken,  and  the  owner  three  eighths.  The 
first  spring  voyage  is  made  to  the  banks ;  the  second 
either  to  the  banks,  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  or 
Labrador ;  the  third  to  the  banks,  and  sometimes  a 
fourth  to  the  same  place. 

The  produce  of  the  cod  fisheries  throughout  the 
world,  is  immense,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following 
statement. 

In  the  French  cod  fishery,  in  1831,  there  were  en- 
gaged 302  ships,  employing  6,243  men,  and  yielding 
12,317,943  killograms  of  dried  fish,  and  1,163,229 
killograms  of  oil. 

The  exports  of  the  British  cod  fishery,  carried  on  by 
xvm. — 6 


62  THE    COD   FISHERY. 

boats  from  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland  and  Nova 
Scotia,  produced  in  1832,  with  the  seal  and  salmon 
fishery,  about  $860,000.  Besides  this,  the  fisheries 
along  the  Labrador  coast  are  extensive. 

The  American  cod  fishery,  in  1833,  employed  ves- 
sels of  60.977  tons;  their  exports  of  fish,  alone, 
amounted  to  over  a  million  of  dollars. 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  the  actual  number  of  these 
fish  annually  taken,  but  it  amounts  to  many  millions, 
and  constitutes  a  material  article  of  food  throughout 
Christendom.  The  dried  cod  are  dispersed  all  over 
Europe,  and  find  their  way  by  means  of  railroads, 
steamboats  and  canals,  to  the  settlements  along  the 
great  lakes  and  the  waters  of  the  upper  Mississippi. 

Whoever  in  crossing  the  Atlantic,  has  chanced  to 
come  across  some  of  the  vessels  of  the  cod  fishers  on 
the  "  Banks" — and  remarked  the  dreariness  of  the 
scene,  amid  those  chill  regions  of  fog  and  tempest, 
cannot  but  have  experienced  emotions  similar  to  those 
expressed  by  the  poet. 

"  A  perilous  life  and  sad  as  life  can  be, 
Hath  the  lone  fisher  on  the  lonely  sea, 
In  the  wild  waters  laboring  far  from  home, 
For  some  bleak  pittance  e'er  compelled  to  roam ! 
Few  friends  to  cheer  him  in  his  dangerous  life, 
And  none  to  aid  him  in  his  stormy  strife  j 
Companion  of  the  sea  and  silent  air, 
The  lonely  fisher  thus  must  ever  fare ; 
Without  the  comfort — hope,  with  scarce  a  friend, 
He  looks  through  life,  and  only  sees — its  end. 

Eternal  ocean!  old  majestic  sea! 
Ever  love  I  from  shore  to  look  on  thee, 
And  sometimes  on  thy  billowy  back  to  ride, 


THE   HERRING   FISHERY. 

And  sometimes  o'er  thy  summer  breast  to  glide ; 
But  let  me  live  on  land — where  rivers  run, 
Where  shady  trees  may  screen  me  from  the  sun ; 
Where  I  may  feel,  secure,  the  fragrant  air  j 
Where,  whate'er  toil  or  wearying  pains  I  bear, 
Those  eyes,  which  look  away  all  human  ill, 
May  shed  on  me  their  still,  sweet,  constant  light, 
And  the  little  hearts  I  love,  may  day  and  night 
Be  found  beside  me,  safe  and  clustering  still. 


THE    HERRING   FISHERY. 

HERRINGS  are  perhaps  the  most  abundant  of  all  the 
finny  tribes.  They  are  found  in  the  highest  northern 
latitudes  yet  visited  by  man,  and  as  far  south  as  the 
coast  of  France  in  Europe,  and  Carolina  in  America. 
They  are  met  with  in  the  seas  of  Kamtschatka,  and  pro- 
bably they  reach  the  isles  of  Japan.  Their  great  win- 
ter rendezvous  is  within  the  arctic  circle.  There  they 
continue  many  months  in  order  to  recruit  themselves 
after  the  fatigue  of  spawning.  The  seas  within  that 
space,  swarm  with  insect  food  in  a  far  greater  degree 
than  those  of  warmer  latitudes ;  the  mighty  army  of 
herrings  begin  to  put  themselves  in  motion  in  spring. 
They  appear  first  off  the  Shetland  Islands  in  April  and 
May ;  but  these  are  only  the  forerunners  of  the  grand 
shoal  which  comes  in  June,  and  their  appearance  is 
marked  by  certain  signs,  such  as  numbers  of  sea-fowl 
which  bear  them  company,  being  thus  sure  of  a  per- 
petual feast.  When  the  main  body  advances,  its 
breadth  and  depth  are  such  as  to  alter  the  appearance 
of  the  very  ocean.  It  is  divided  into  distinct  columns 


64  THE    HERRING   FISHERY. 

of  five  or  six  miles  in  length,  and  three  or  four  in 
breadth,  and  their  motion  causes  a  strong  rippling  in 
the  water.  Sometimes  they  sink  for  the  space  of  ten 
or  fifteen  minutes,  and  then  rise  again  to  the  surface. 
In  fine  weather  they  reflect  a  variety  of  splendid 
colors  like  a  field  of  the  most  precious  gems. 

The  first  check  which  this  great  army  meets  in  its 
march  southward,  is  from  the  Shetland  group  of  islands, 
which  divides  it  into  two  parts.  One  wing  takes  to  the 
east  and  the  other  to  the  western  shores  of  Great 
Britain,  filling  every  bay  and  creek  with  their  numbers. 
The  former  proceed  toward  Yarmouth,  the  great  and 
ancient  mart  of  herrings ;  they  then  pass  through  the 
British  channel,  and  for  the  most  part  disappear. 
Those  which  steer  toward  the  west  after  coasting  the 
Hebrides,  where  there  is  a  great  stationary  fishery, 
proceed  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  where  they  meet 
with  a  second  interruption,  and  are  obliged  to  make 
another  division.  The  one  portion  deviates  to  the 
western  side,  and  is  scarcely  perceived,  being  soon 
lost  in  the  broad  Atlantic;  but  the  other  half  that 
passes  into  the  Irish  sea,  is  welcomed  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  coasts,  who  feed  upon  its  countless  mul- 
titudes. These  brigades  as  we  may  call  them,  which 
are  thus  separated  from  the  greater  columns,  are  often 
capricious  in  their  motions,  and  do  not  show  an  inva- 
riable attachment  to  their  common  haunts. 

This  instinct  of  migration  was  given  to  the  herrings 
that  they  might  deposit  their  spawn  in  warmer  seas, 
which  mature  and  vivify  it  more  effectually  than  those 
of  the  frozen  zone.  It  is  not  from  a  deficiency  of  food 
that  they  leave  the  regions  of  the  north;  for  they 


THE    HERRING   FISHERY.  65 

come  to  us  very  fat,  and  on  their  return  are  generally 
observed  to  be  lean.  They  are  full  of  roe  toward  the 
end  of  June,  and  continue  in  perfection  till  the  begin- 
ning of  winter  when  they  deposit  their  spawn. 

The  herring  appears  to  have  been  unknown  to  the 
ancients,  being  rarely,  if  ever,  found  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean. The  Dutch  are  said  to  have  engaged  in  the 
fishery  in  1164.  The  invention  of  pickling  or  salting 
herrings  is  ascribed  to  one  Berukels  of  Biervliet  near 
Sluys,  who  died  in  1397.  The  emperor  Charles  V. 
visited  his  grave,  and  ordered  a  magnificent  tomb  to  be 
erected  to  his  memory.  Since  this  early  period,  the 
Dutch  have  uniformly  maintained  their  ascendency  in 
the  herring  fishery ;  but  owing  to  the  Reformation,  and 
the  lax  observance  of  Lent  in  Catholic  countries,  the 
demand  for  herrings  upon  the  continent  is  now  far  less 
than  it  was  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 

The  herring  fishery  of  the  British  Islands  is  prac- 
tised by  drift-nets,  and  principally  at  night,  as  the  fish 
strike  the  nets  in  much  greater  numbers  during  the 
darkness.  It  is  supposed  that  in  the  daytime,  the  nets 
scare  the  fish,  and  drive  them  away  from  the  grounds. 
Fishing  with  these  by  day  is  strictly  prohibited. 
The  darkest  nights  and  those  in  which  the  surface  of 
the  water  is  ruffled  by  a  breeze,  are  considered  the 
most  favorable.  The  food  of  the  herring  consists 
principally  of  the  various  kinds  of  Crustacea,  but  they 
have  been  known  to  devour  the  fry  of  their  own  spe- 
cies. About  400,000  barrels  of  herring  are  annually 
taken  and  cured  in  Great  Britain. 

In  the  United  States,  particularly  on  the  New  Eng- 
land coast,  the  herring  are  also  taken  in  great  nun> 
E  6* 


66  THE    HERRING   FISHERY. 

bers.  During  the  season  of  spawning,  the  rivers,  both 
large  and  small,  abound  with  them.  In  Passama- 
quoddy  Bay  and  the  neighborhood,  they  are  taken  by 
scooping  them  up  with  hand-nets.  This  fishing,  as  in 
England,  is  mostly  carried  on  during  dark  nights, 
and  often  displays  the  most  striking  and  picturesque 
appearance  to  the  spectator  on  shore.  The  fishermen 
go  in  small  light  boats,  each  carrying  a  flaming  torch. 
The  boats  row  with  great  swiftness  through  the  water, 
and  the  herring,  attracted  by  the  glare  of  the  light, 
crowd  after  the  boat  in  such  numbers,  that  those  sta- 
tioned in  the  stern  for  this  purpose,  scoop  them  up  by 
thousands.  The  fish  frequently  throng  together  with 
such  eagerness,  as  to  throw  one  another  out  of  the 
water.  When  there  are  large  numbers  of  boats  toge- 
ther upon  the  water,  with  the  strong  red  glare  of  their 
birchen  torches  reflected  from  the  surface,  the  lights 
swiftly  crossing  and  re-crossing  each  other,  now  sud- 
denly disappearing  and  again  appearing  among  the 
islands  as  if  by  enchantment,  the  whole  contrasted 
with  the  darkness  that  shrouds  every  other  object, 
produce  a  scene  of  the  most  novel  and  romantic  char- 
acter. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  any  authentic  statement  of 
the  number  and  amount  of  herrings  taken ;  but  in 
Great  Britain  alone,  439,371  barrels  were  inspected 
and  branded  by  %he  government,  during  the  year 
1831.  It  is  probable  that  this  was  less  than  half  the 
whole  number  caught  in  Europe  and  America.  If 
we  suppose  that  a  million  of  barrels  are  annually 
taken,  and  that  each  barrel  contains  500,  we  shall  see 
that  the  consumption  of  this  fish  in  Europe  and  Ame- 
rica, is  500  millions  a  year  ! 


THE   PEARL   FISHERY.  67 

THE   MACKEREL    FISHERY. 

THE  Mackerel  are  a  migratory  fish  like  the  herring, 
and  are  caught  in  considerable  numbers,  both  in  Eu- 
rope and  America.  They  appear  on  the  coast  of 
New  England  early  in  the  summer,  and  pass  to  the 
south.  Those  caught  early  in  the  season  are  lean 
and  indifferent  eating,  but  before  they  leave  our  coast, 
they  become  fat,  and  afford  a  choice  dish  for  the 
table.  Besides  a  supply  for  daily  consumption  in  the 
markets  of  the  seaport  towns,  vast  numbers  are  taken 
for  curing  and  exportation.  The  mackerel  fishery  is 
pursued  in  small  craft  called  chebacco-boats,  of  from 
15  to  30  tons'  burthen ;  the  crews  of  which  go  upon 
shares,  as  in  the  cod  fishery.  The  fishermen  throw 
great  quantities  of  bait  overboard  around  the  boats, 
which  attract  the  swarms  or  schools,  as  they  are  called, 
of  mackerel,  and  they  are  then  caught  with  hook  and 
line.  After  being  pickled  and  brought  on  shore,  they 
are  sorted  into  three  different  qualities,  put  up  in  bar- 
rels and  branded  according  to  quality  by  a  public 
inspector.  They  are  exported  to  the  West  Indies, 
South  America,  and  the  southern  and  western  States 
of  the  Union.  250,000  barrels  are  sometimes  taken  in 
a  year,  exclusive  of  those  sold  fresh  in  the  markets.  It 
is  probable  that  the  mackerel  fishery  may  amount  to 
nearly  half  that  of  the  herring  fishery. 


THE   PEARL  FISHERY. 

PEARLS  were  in  the  highest   estimation  among  the 
ancient  Romans,  and  bore  an  enormous  price.     Their 


68  THE   PEARL   FISHERY. 

value  in  modern  times  has  very  much  declined,  partly 
no  doubt,  from  changes  of  manners  and  fashions,  but 
more,  probably,  from  the  successful  imitations  of  pearls 
which  are  sold  at  a  low  price.  A  handsome  necklace 
of  Ceylon  pearls  smaller  than  a  large  pea,  costs  from 
800  to  1500  dollars ;  a  necklace  of  other  pearls  of  the 
size  of  peppercorns,  may  be  bought  for  70  dollars. 
The  pearls  in  the  former  are  valued  at  five  dollars 
each  ;  those  in  the  latter  at  30  cents.  Pearls  of  the 
size  of  small  shot  are  called  "  seed  pearls,"  and  are  of 
little  value ;  these  are  mostly  sent  to  China.  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  pearls  of  which  we  have  any 
authentic  account,  was  bought  by  the  French  travel- 
ler Tavernier  at  Catifa  in  Arabia,  where  pearl  fishery 
has  long  been  famous,  for  the  enormous  sum  of  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  It  is  two  or  three  inches  long  and 
about  half  an  inch  thick,  and  is  of  a  regular  pear-like 
shape,  without  blemish. 

The  pearl  oyster  is  sought  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  particularly  on  the  west  coast  of  Ceylon ;  at 
Tuticoreen  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel ;  at  the  Bahrein 
Islands  in  the  Gulf  of  Persia ;  at  the  Sooloo  Islands ; 
on  the  coast  of  Algiers ;  at  Margarita  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  in  the  Bay  of  Panama  in  the  South  Sea. 
The  most  extensive  fisheries  are  those  of  the  Persian 
Gulf.  The  entire  monopoly  of  this  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  Sheik  of  Bushire,  who  appears  to  consider  all 
the  islands  in  the  Gulf  as  his  immediate  property. 
The  fisheries  best  known  are  those  of  Ceylon.  The 
principal  one  is  on  the  western  coast,  off  the  bay  of 
Condatchy,  about  twelve  miles  south  of  the  island  of 
Manaar.  This  part  of  the  country  is  sandy,  and  at 


THE    PEARL    FISHERY.  69 

other  times  is  scarcely  inhabited,  but  when  the  fishery 
begins,  a  town  suddenly  springs  up  here,  with  nume- 
rous streets  a  mile  long. 

The  banks  on  which  the  pearl  oysters  are  found  are 
fifteen  miles  out  at  sea.  The  boatmen  with  their  attend- 
ants, to  the  number  of  6000,  are  roused  a  little  before 
midnight  with  immense  bustle,  and  after  performing 
their  ablutions  and  incantations  to  charm  away  the 
sharks,  they  set  sail.  About  half-past  six  in  the  morn- 
ing the  operation  begins.  A  sort  of  scaffolding  is 
projected  from  each  side  of  the  boat,  from  which  the 
diving  tackle  is  suspended,  consisting  of  three  stones, 
fifty-six  pounds  in  weight  on  one  side,  and  two  on  the 
other.  The  diving  stone  hangs  by  a  rope  and  slip- 
knot, and  just  above  the  stone  is  a  strong  loop  to 
receive  the  foot  like  a  stirrup.  A  basket  for  the  oysters 
is  added,  and  when  all  is  ready,  the  driver  grasps  his 
nostrils  with  one  hand  and  descends.  The  moment 
he  reaches  the  bottom  he  disengages  his  foot  from  the 
rope,  which  is  immediately  drawn  up  to  be  ready  for 
the  next  diver.  The  one  at  the  bottom  throws  him- 
self on  his  face  and  collects  eveything  he  can  lay  hold 
of  into  his  basket.  When  ready  to  ascend,  he  gives  a 
jerk  to  the  basket-rope,  and  is  drawn  up.  Some  of 
the  divers  accomplish  the  dip  in  one  minute.  Double 
that  time  is  the  utmost  that  any  one  remains  under 
water.  These  persons  usually  bleed  at  the  nose  and 
ears  after  rising,  but  they  seem  to  enjoy  the  occupa- 
tion and  regard  it  as  a  pleasant  pastime,  never  com- 
plaining of  fatigue  unless  the  banks  are  poor  in 
oysters. 

Pearl  shells,  commonly  called  mother  of  pearl  shells, 


70 


THE    CORAL    FISHERY. 


are  imported  from  various  parts  of  the  East,  and  con- 
sist principally  of  the  shells  of  the  pearl  oyster  from 
the  gulf  of  Persia  and  other  places,  particularly  the 
Sooloo  Islands,  situated  between  Borneo  and  the 
Philippines,  the  shores  of  which  afford  the  largest 
and  finest  shells  hitherto  discovered.  On  the  inside 
the  shell  is  beautifully  polished,  and  of  the  whiteness 
and  water  of  pearl  itself;  it  has  the  same  lustre  on  the 
outside,  after  the  external  laminaB  have  been  re- 
moved. Mother  of  pearl  shells  are  extensively  used 
in  the  arts,  particularly  in  inlaid  work,  and  in  the 
manufacture  of  handles  for  knives,  buttons,  toys,  snuff 
boxes,  &c.  The  Chinese  manufacture  them  into 
beads,  fish  counters,  spoons,  &c.,  giving  them  a  finish 
to  which  European  artists  have  not  been  able  to 
attain. 


THE   CORAL    FISHERY. 


THE  Coral  of  commerce  is  a  marine  production,  of 
which  there  are  many  varieties.     It  was  well  known 


THE    CORAL   FISHERY.  71 

to  the  ancients,  but  it  was  reserved  to  the  moderns  to 
discover  its  real  nature.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  nidus  or 
nest  of  a  certain  species  of  vermes  which  has  the  same 
relation  to  coral  that  a  snail  has  to  its  shell.  As  an 
ornament,  black  coral  is  most  esteemed,  but  the  red  is 
also  very  highly  prized. 

Coral  is  found  in  very  great  abundance  in  the  Red 
Sea,  the  Persian  Gulf,  in  various  places  in  the  Med- 
iterranean, on  the  coast  of  Sumatra,  &c.  It  grows  on 
rocks  and  many  solid  submarine  bodies ;  and  it  is 
necessary  to  its  production,  that  it  should  remain  fixed 
to  its  place.  It  has,  generally,  a  shrub-like  appear- 
ance. In  the  Straits  of  Messina,  where  a  great  deal  is 
fished  up,  it  usually  grows  to  nearly  a  foot  in  length, 
and  its  thickness  is  about  that  of  the  little  finger.  It 
requires  eight  or  ten  years  to  attain  its  greatest  size. 

The  depth  at  which  it  is  obtained  is  various — from 
10  to  100  fathoms  or  more  ;  but  it  seems  to  be  neces- 
sary to  its  production,  that  the  rays  of  the  sun  should 
readily  penetrate  to  the  place  of  its  habitation.  Its 
value  depends  upon  its  size,  solidity,  and  the  depth  and 
brilliancy  of  its  color ;  and  is  so  very  various,  that 
while  some  of  the  Sicilian  coral  sells  for  eight  or  ten 
guineas  an  ounce,  other  descriptions  of  it  will  not 
fetch  one  shilling  a  pound.  It  is  highly  prized  by 
the  opulent  natives  of  India,  as  well  as  by  the  fair  sex 
throughout  Europe.  The  inferior  or  worm-eaten  coral 
is  used  in  some  parts  of  the  Madras  coast,  in  the 
celebration  of  funeral  rites.  It  is  used  also  medicinally. 
Besides  the  fishery  in  the  Straits  of  Messina  already 
alluded  to,  there  are  valuable  fisheries  on  the  coasts  of 
Majorca  and  Minorca,  and  on  the  coasts  of  Provence. 


72  THE    CORAL    FISHERY. 

A  good  deal  of  Mediterranean  coral  is  exported  to 
India,  which,  however,  draws  the  largest  portion  of  its 
supplies  from  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  produce  of  the 
fishery  at  Messina  is  stated  hy  Spallanzani,  to  amount 
to  12  quintals  of  250  pounds  each. 

The  manner  of  fishing  coral  is  nearly  the  same 
every  where.  That  which  is  most  commonly  prac- 
tised in  the  Mediterranean  is  as  follows : — Seven  or 
eight  men  go  in  a  boat,  commanded  by  the  proprietor ; 
the  caster  throws  his  net,  if  we  may  so  call  the 
machine  which  is  to  tear  up  the  coral  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sea ;  and  the  rest  work  the  boat,  and  help  to 
draw  in  the  net.  This  is  composed  of  two  beams  of 
wood  tied  crosswise,  with  lead  fixed  to  them  to  sink 
them ;  to  these  beams  is  fastened  a  quantity  of  hemp, 
twisted  loosely  round  and  intermingled  with  some  loose 
nettles.  In  this  condition  the  machine  is  let  down 
into  the  sea,  and  when  the  coral  is  pretty  strongly  en- 
twined in  the  hemp  and  nets,  they  draw  it  up  with 
a  rope,  which  they  unwind  according  to  the  depth,  and 
which  it  sometimes  requires  half  a  dozen  boats  to 
draw.  If  this  rope  happens  to  break,  the  fishermen 
run  the  hazard  of  being  lost.  Before  the  fishers  go  to 
sea,  they  agree  for  the  price  of  the  coral ;  and  the 
produce  of  the  fishery  is  divided  at  the  end  of  the  sea- 
son, into  thirteen  parts ;  of  which  the  proprietor  has 
four,  the  caster  two,  and  the  other  six  men  one  each  ; 
the  thirteenth  belongs  to  the  company,  for  boat- 
hire,  &c. 


GENERAL    REMARKS    ON    THE    FISHERIES.  73 


GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  FISHERIES. 

IN  the  preceding  sketches,  we  have  only  noticed 
those  fisheries  which  make  a  prominent  figure  in  com- 
merce.^ We  have  said  nothing  of  those  which  have 
for  their  object  the  supply  of  the  table  with  fresh  sal- 
mon, shad,  trout,  turbot,  sole,  perch,  alewives,  smelt, 
white  bait,  carp,  pout,  eels,  lobsters,  clams,  oysters, 
crabs,  prawns,  shrimps,  and  multitudes  of  others. 
Fishing  not  only  constitutes  one  of  the  great  branches 
of  human  industry  and  enterprise,  but  it  supplies  a 
large  portion  of  the  food  of  the  entire  human  race. 
Along  the  sea  coasts,  which  are  the  most  thickly  set- 
tled part  of  the  world  ;  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  the 
borders  of  lakes,  the  inhabitants  of  every  zone  look  to 
the  waters  for  a  considerable  portion  of  their  subsist- 
ence. Of  course,  we  have  no  means  of  making 
reliable  estimates  as  to  the  consumption  of  the  whole 
world,  but  we  suppose  that  if  we  include  all  species, 
and  the  smaller  kinds,  it  can  hardly  be  less  than  an 
annual  average  of  fifty  to  each  person  ;  and  if  we 
estimate  the  population  of  the  globe  at  800,000,000, 
we  shall  have  an  aggregate  of  40  thousand  million 
fishes,  devoured  every  year  by  mankind  ! 

*  The  number  of  oysters  consumed  in  Great  Britain  is 
probably  not  less  than  50,000,000,  annually.  Salmon  fisheries, 
says  Marshall,  rank  next  to  agriculture,  as  a  means  of  supply- 
ing food.  The  value  of  the  salmon,  caught  in  Scotland  alone, 
is  $750,000  a  year.  Our  own  shad  fisheries  are  immense.  The 
exports  of  cured  fish  from  the  United  States  are  valued  at 
about  $750,000  a  year! 

xvin. — 7 


HUNTING. 


CATTLE  HUNTING. 

THE  Pampas  of  South  America  are  vast  plains  ex- 
tending from  the  banks  of  the  La  Plata  to  Chili ;  their 
northern  boundaries  are  not  distinctly  known,  but  they 
stretch  to  the  south  as  far  as  the  rivers  of  Patagonia. 
These  immense  level  territories  like  the  steppes  of 
Russia,  having  scarcely  any  elevations,  exhibit  a  pros- 
pect resembling  that  of  the  sea,  terminated  only  by  the 
horizon.  They  are  somewhat  diversified  with  paths 
and  clefts  or  ditches,  which  collect  the  rain  water  and 
which  commonly  end  in  lakes,  as  there  is  no  declivity 
of  surface  to  carry  the  streams  to  the  sea.  Yet  there 
are  wide  tracts  in  which  no  water  is  found  ;  and  trees 
are  extremely  rare  except  a  few  small  ones  around  the 
lakes.  The  soil  is  generally  a  black  earth  of  little 
depth,  lying  on  a  bed  of  coarse  white  chalk,  so  that  it 
is  difficult  to  dig  wells. 

These  plains  exhibit  a  sea  of  waving  grass,  some- 
times 900  miles  in  extent,  with  hardly  an  interruption 
of  wood  or  hill.  The  succulent  and  nutritive  herbage 
of  the  soil  affords  pasture  to  many  of  those  countless 
herds  of  cattle  that  rove  unowned  and  unvalued  over 
a  great  portion  of  South  America,  and  whose  hides 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  75 

and  tallow  form  a  principal  article  of  the  trade  of 
Buenos  Ayres.  Wild  horses  also  abound  in  these 
natural  meadows.  They  wander  from  place  to  place, 
against  the  current  of  the  winds,  and  are  sometimes 
met  with  in  such  numbers  that  travellers  across  the 
plains  are  surrounded  by  them  for  weeks  together. 
Sometimes  dense  troops  of  them  sweep  over  the  coun- 
try at  full  speed  for  hours,  and  it  is  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  the  traveller  can  avoid  being  run  over 
and  trampled  to  death. 

Troops  of  savages  are  sometimes  scouring  these 
plains  and  occasionally  attack  travellers,  but  their  at- 
tempts are  only  successful  when  made  by  surprise,  or 
when  a  few  individuals  of  the  party  straggle  from 
the  main  body.  The  route  across  this  country  is  often 
pursued  by  the  compass,  as  there  are  few  landmarks 
or  traces  by  which  the  road  can  be  discovered  for  many 
hundred  miles.  Travellers  go  in  covered  carts  or 
caravans,  made  almost  as  commodious  as  a  house, 
with  doors  to  shut,  and  windows  on  each  side.  Mat- 
tresses are  laid  on  the  floor>  on  which  the  passengers 
sleep  for  the  greater  part  of  the  journey.  These  vehicles 
are  drawn  by  oxen,  and  accompanied  by  baggage 
horses  and  mules.  They  set  out  in  the  afternoon,  two 
hours  before  sunset,  travel  all  night,  and  till  an  hour 
after  sunrise.  They  then  rest  and  partake  of  the  pro- 
visions brought  with  them  or  taken  by  hunting  on  the 
journey,  for  which  purpose  many  travellers  carry  dogs 
and  hunting  horses.  During  the  day  excessive  heats 
prevail,  from  which  they  can  get  no  shelter  except 
what  their  vehicles  afford.  Sometimes  no  water  is  to 
be  met  with  during  several  days'  journey,  and  they 


76  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

often  suffer  for  drink  unless  relieved  by  showers  of 
rain.  Travelling1  is  sometimes  impeded  by  violent 
showers  which  lay  the  whole  country  under  water. 
The  westerly  winds,  too,  or  Pamperos,  which  de- 
scend from  the  lofty  Cordilleras,  not  meeting  with 
anything1  to  check  their  impetuosity,  acquire  here  an 
inconceivable  degree  of  fury,  and  are  a  great  annoy- 
ance to  the  traveller. 

To  this  general  account  we  may  add  the  graphic 
description  of  the  Pampas  furnished  by  Capt.  Head. 
On  leaving  Buenos  Ayres,  the  first  of  these  regions  is 
covered  for  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  with  clover 
and  thistles  ;  the  second  region  which  extends  for  four 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  produces  long  grass ;  and  the 
third  region  which  reaches  the  base  of  the  Cordilleras, 
is  a  grove  of  low  trees  and  shrubs.  The  second  and 
third  of  these  regions  have  nearly  the  same  appearance 
throughout  the  year,  for  the  trees  and  shrubs  are  ever- 
greens, and  the  immense  plain  of  grass  only  changes  its 
color  from  green  to  brown  :  but  the  first  region  varies 
with  the  four  seasons  of  the  year  in  a  most  extraordi- 
nary manner.  In  winter  the  leaves  of  the  thistles  are 
large  and  luxuriant,  and  the  whole  surface  of  the  coun- 
try has  the  rough  appearance  of  a  turnip  field.  The 
clover  in  this  season  is  extremely  rich  and  strong,  and 
the  sight  of  the  wild  cattle  grazing  in  full  liberty  in 
such  pasture,  is  very  beautiful.  In  spring,  the  clover 
has  vanished,  the  leaves  of  the  thistle  have  extended 
along  the  ground,  and  the  country  still  looks  like  a 
rough  crop  of  turnips.  In  less  than  a  month  the 
change  is  most  extraordinary :  the  whole  region  be- 
comes a  luxuriant  wood  of  enormous  thistles,  which 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  77 

have  suddenly  shot  up  to  a  height  of  ten  or  eleven 
feet,  and  are  all  in  full  bloom.  The  road  or  path  is 
hemmed  in  on  both  sides  :  the  view  is  completely  ob- 
structed ;  not  an  animal  is  to  be  seen,  and  the  stems 
of  the  thistles  are  so  close  to  each  other  and  so  strong, 
that  independent  of  the  prickles  with  which  they  are 
armed,  they  form  an  impenetrable  barrier.  The  sud- 
den growth  of  these  plants  is  quite  astonishing,  and 
although  it  would  be  an  unusual  misfortune  in  mili- 
tary history,  yet  it  is  really  possible  that  an  invading 
army,  unacquainted  with  this  country,  might  be  im- 
prisoned by  these  thistles  before  they  had  time  to 
escape  from  them.  The  summer  is  not  over  before 
the  scene  undergoes  another  rapid  change;  the  this- 
tles suddenly  lose  their  sap  and  verdure,  their  heads 
droop,  the  leaves  shrink  and  fade,  the  stems  become 
black  and  dead,  and  they  remain  rattling  in  the  breeze 
one  against  another,  till  the  violence  of  the  pampero 
or  hurricane  levels  them  with  the  ground,  where  they 
rapidly  decompose  and  disappear ;  the  clover  rushes 
up,  and  the  scene  is  again  verdant. 

The  Spanish  inhabitants  who  are  thinly  scattered 
over  this  wide  region  are  called  Gauchos :  they  are  a 
wild,  semi-barbarous  race,  with  less  civilization  than 
the  backwoodsmen  of  the  United  States.  The  Pampas 
Indians  frequently  attack  the  Gauchos  for  two  objects, 
to  steal  cattle,  and  for  the  pleasure  of  murdering  the 
people.  In  their  invasions,  they  generally  ride  all 
night,  and  hide  themselves  on  the  ground  during  the 
day ;  or  if  they  travel  in  the  daytime,  they  crouch 
almost  under  the  bellies  of  the  horses,  who  by  this 
means  appear  at  a  distance  to*  be  without  riders.  They 
7* 


78  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

usually  approach  the  huts  of  the  Gauchos  under  cover 
of  the  night  at  full  gallop,  uttering  loud  shrieks  and 
striking  their  mouths  with  the  hand  ;  and  this  cry 
which  intimidates  their  enemies,  is  continued  through 
the  whole  of  the  assault.  Their  first  act  is  to  set  fire 
to  the  roof  of  the  hut,  and  it  is  dreadful  to  fancy 
what  the  feelings  of  a  family  must  be,  when,  after 
having  been  alarmed  by  the  barking  of  the  dogs, 
which  the  Gauchos  always  keep  in  great  numbers, 
they  first  hear  the  wild  cry  which  announces  their 
doom,  and  in  an  instant  afterwards,  find  the  roof 
burning  over  their  heads.  As  soon  as  the  family  rush 
out,  which  they  are  compelled  to  do,  the  men  and 
women  are  struck  with  the  lances  of  the  Indians, 
which  are  eighteen  feet  long ;  all  are  instantly  butch- 
ered except  young  and  beautiful  girls  who  are  carried 
off  into  captivity. 

The  hunting  of  wild  oxen  on  the  Pampas  is  per- 
formed chiefly  in  the  following  manner.  A  number 
of  hunters  repair  on  horseback  to  the  places  frequented 
by  wild  cattle.  Each  one  is  provided  with  a  long  pole, 
the  extremity  of  which  is  armed  with  a  sharp  iron 
blade  crossing  the  shaft  obliquely.  With  this  weapon 
the  hunter  dexterously  rips  open  the  throat  of  the  bul- 
lock. This  method  is  preferred,  as  by  piercing  the 
body  with  lances  or  bullets,  the  hide  would  be  spoiled. 
Another  method  is  by  using  a  sharp  iron  crescent,  the 
points  of  which  are  about  a  foot  across,  which  is  fixed 
at  the  end  of  the  pole,  and  with  which,  the  hunter 
hamstrings  the  beast.  Both  these  operations  are  per- 
formed without  checking  the  horse,  and  when  the 
prey  has  fallen,  the  hunter  leaves  it  to  pursue  another 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  79 

beast,  which  he  attacks  in  the  same  manner.  After 
having  struck  a  sufficient  number,  or  fatiguing  him- 
self with  the  exercise,  he  returns  and  finds  out  the 
place  where  the  animals  lie,  which  he  is  careful  to 
impress  on  his  memory.  Subsequently  the  animals 
are  skinned,  and  the  fat  or  suet  wrapped  up  in  the 
hide,  to  which  is  sometimes  added  the  tongue ;  the 
carcass  is  left  a  prey  to  the  wild  dogs  and  vultures. 

The  immense  herds  of  cattle  which  the  Spaniards 
keep  on  their  estancias,  or  grazing  farms,  are  in  a  wild 
state,  by  reason  of  the  extent  of  the  pastures  in  which 
they  range,  and  they  are  hunted  and  caught  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  cattle  of  the  Pampas.  Some- 
times, however,  they  are  driven  into  an  enclosure  to 
be  killed.  At  the  gate  are  the  peasants  on  horseback 
with  their  crescent  spears.  As  many  beasts  are  then 
turned  out  as  there  are  men  in  waiting,  and  each  pur- 
sues his  prey.  They  are  inwiediately  hamstrung, 
despatched,  and  flayed;  and  this  exercise  continues 
daily  till  all  the  cattle  appointed  for  the  year's  slaugh- 
ter, are  killed.  It  is  surprising  not  only  to  witness 
their  dexterity  in  hamstringing  the  beasts  when  both 
are  on  full  speed,  but  also  to  see  one  man  go  through 
the  whole  work  with  so  much  regularity  and  despatch — 
for  each  skins  his  beast,  takes  out  the  tallow,  and  cuts 
up  the  flesh  for  salting  and  drying.  He  then  wraps 
the  fat  in  the  hide,  and  loading  it  on  the  horse,  carries 
it  off  to  the  farm.  If  the  bullock  be  too  swift  for  the 
horse,  the  hunter  has  recourse  to  his  noose,  or  laso 
and  halters  him  by  throwing  it  round  his  neck,  or 
entangles  one  or  two  of  his  legs. 

Another  method  is  as  follows.    Two  persons  mount 


80  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

their  horses  with  their  lasos,  which  are  thirty  or  forty 
yards  long,  having  one  end  fastened  to  the  saddle. 
One  of  tne  men  rides  in  among  the  cattle,  and  select- 
ing a  beast,  throws  his  noose  round  his  horns  and  gal- 
lops away.  The  rope  being  run  out,  the  other  is 
ready  with  his  noose,  and  swinging  the  rope  several 
times  round  his  head,  he  watches  the  opportunity  when 
the  beast  is  kicking  and  struggling,  and  entangles  one 
of  the  hind  legs.  Both  the  horses  immediately  draw 
the  rope  tight,  in  opposite  directions,  and  being  well 
trained  to  the  exercise,  stand  so  firm  that  the  beast 
cannot  move.  A  third  man  now  advances  and  ham- 
strings, with  a  large  knife,  the  hind  leg  that  is  not 
secured,  upon  which  the  animal  immediately  falls, 
and  his  throat  is  cut.  Though  this  may  seem  to  a 
stranger  a  tedious  process,  it  is  finished  in  four  or  five 
minutes.  Another  mode  is  sometimes  pursued  at 
these  matanzas.  A  machine  with  a  pulley  and  winch 
at  the  extremity  of  the  enclosure  is  erected.  A  bul- 
lock's horns  are  entangled  in  a  rope  which  draws  him 
on  and  thrusts  his  head  through  an  opening  in  the 
paling,  where  a  man  stands  ready  with  a  stout  dagger, 
with  which  he  stabs  the  beast  in  the  back  of  the  neck, 
between  the  horns,  so  that  he  falls  instantly  dead. 

Wild  horses  are  taken  with  the  laso  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  oxen.  It  is  very  seldom  that  the  hunters  miss 
their  aim,  although  at  full  speed ;  and  even  a  man, 
however  cautious,  can  no  more  avoid  being  taken 
thus,  than  a  horse  or  an  ox.  The  laso  is  one  of  the 
weapons  which  the  South  Americans  use  in  their  pri- 
vate quarrels,  and  they  also  exercised  it  with  great 
effect  during  the  wars  of  the  revolution,  singling  out 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  81 

the  Spanish  officers  in  battle.  The  straggling  robbers 
who  infest  the  roads  remote  from  the  towns,  also  use 
the  laso  to  entrap  their  victims.  In  an  open  country, 
the  only  chance  for  safety,  is  for  the  traveller  attacked 
in  this  manner,  to  throw  himself  on  the  ground,  keep- 
ing his  legs  and  arms  as  close  as  possible,  so  that  the 
rope  may  get  no  hold  upon  him.  Among  trees  or  under- 
wood, the  laso  is  not  dangerous :  and  if  by  a  rapid 
advance  toward  the  robber,  the  distance  can  be 
reduced  to  ten  or  fifteen  yards  before  he  throws  it,  his 
dexterity  may  be  ineffectual ;  but  at  twenty  or  thirty 
yards'  distance  it  is  almost  impossible  to  escape.  The 
Indians,  when  they  apprehend  an  attack  of  this  kind, 
carry  a  lance  with  which  they  are  equally  dexterous 
in  parrying  it.  The  laso  rope  is  made  of  thongs  of 
bullock's  hide,  cut  round  the  skin ;  these  thongs  are 
twisted,  and  rendered  supple  by  grease.  They  are  so 
strong  that  though  when  twisted,  they  are  not  thicker 
than  the  little  finger,  they  will  hold  the  wildest  bull 
whose  efforts  to  escape  would  break  a  hempen  rope  of 
much  larger  dimensions. 

A  large  part  of  the  trade  of  Buenos  Ayres,  consists 
in  the  hides  of  the  wild  horses  and  cattle,  taken  upon 
the  pampas.  In  1832,  the  export  alone,  amounted 
to  about  925,000  hides  of  cattle;  4071,  of  horses; 
and  2,049,000  horns.  This  must  be  considered  as 
probably  not  more  than  one  half  of  the  number  actually 
taken  every  year  in  South  America. 

The  Jesuit  missionary  Dobrizhoffer,  who,  during 
the  last  century,  resided  many  years  in  Paraguay, 
writes  as  follows.  "  The  whole  world  does  not  contain 
a  country  more  numerously  supplied  with  oxen, 


CATTLE    HUNTING. 


horses,  mules  and  sheep,  which  were  formerly  brought 
to  Paraguay,  and  in  the  course  of  two  hundred  years 
increased  marvellously,  both  on  account  of  the  rich- 
ness of  the  pastures,  and  the  unbounded  liberty  they 
possessed  of  wandering  up  and  down  the  plains.  The 
quantity  of  kine  which  exists  there  is  scarcely  credible 
to  a  European.  Fifty  years  ago,  when  all  the  plains 
were  covered  with  wild  oxen,  travellers  were  obliged 
to  send  horsemen  before  them,  to  clear  the  way  by 
driving  off  the  beasts  which  stood  threatening  them 
with  their  horns.  It  is  therefore  no  wonder  that  at  that 
time  a  full  grown  ox  was  sold  for  a  real  (12£  cents,) 
as  appears  from  the  old  books  of  valuations.  Every 
Spaniard  who  intended  to  enlarge  his  estate,  hired  a 
troop  of  horse  which  brought  him  eight,  ten  or  more 
thousands  of  cows  and  bulls  from  the  country  within 
a  few  weeks.  Do  you  desire  to  be  made  acquainted 
with  the  shape  of  the  Paraguayan  oxen  ?  In  height 
they  equal  those  of  Hungary,  and  surpass  them  in 
general  size,  although  their  color  is  different.  With 
a  sort  of  ferocious  arrogance  they  imitate  stags  in  the 
manner  of  holding  their  lofty  heads,  and  almost  equal 
them  in  swiftness.  Unless  the  pastures  are  impover- 
ished by  a  long  drought,  every  ox  yields  such  a 
weight  of  fat,  that  two  strong  men  are  scarcely  able  to 
carry  it.  The  fat  of  oxen  is  always  used  for  butter  in 
culinary  preparations,  for  the  cows  are  very  seldom 
milked  on  account  of  their  ferocity;  the  taming  of 
them  is  a  long  and  laborious  process,  and  consequently 
no  way  congenial  to  the  slothful  temper  of  the  Spani- 
ards and  Indians.  When  tamed,  they  will  not  suffer 
themselves  to  be  milked  unless  their  feet  are  tied,  and 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  83 

their  calves  are  standing  by  them.  A  butcher  and 
shambles  are  words  unknown  in  Paraguay ;  every 
man  slays  his  own  oxen.  The  poorer  people  do  not 
buy  pounds  of  meat,  as  is  customary  in  Europe,  but 
receive  large  parts  of  slaughtered  oxen  from  the  liber- 
ality of  the  rich. 

"  The  ox-hides  are  carefully  fastened  to  the  ground 
to  be  dried,  with  wooden  pegs,  under  shelter  in  a 
place  where  the  fresh  air  is  admitted ;  and  lest  moths 
should  gnaw  them  or  strip  them  of  their  hairs,  they 
are  carefully  beaten  with  sticks  for  a  week  or  fort- 
night. The  Spaniards  finding  that  the  trade  in  hides 
was  more  profitable  to  them  than  all  others,  were 
seized  with  a  blind  rage  for  killing  all  the  oxen  they 
could  lay  their  hands  on.  The  flesh,  after  being 
stripped,  and  which  would  suffice  to  feed  a  numerotf^ 
army  in  Europe,  is  left  on  the  plains  to  be  devoured 
by  dogs,  wild  beasts  and  birds ;  and  indeed  one  might 
fear  lest  the  air  should  be  corrupted  by  such  a  quan- 
tity of  carrion. 

"  This  custom  of  hunting  and  slaughtering  oxen  be- 
ing continued  for  a  century,  exhausted  almost  all  the 
plains  of  wild  cattle.  You  no  longer  saw  those  public 
and  immense  herds  of  oxen  which  belonged  to  nobody 
in  particular,  but  might  he  appropriated  to  the  use  of 
any  one.  It  must  be  ascribed  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  these  plains,  that  in  Paraguayan  estates,  the 
oxen  are  still  so  numerous  that  Europe  may  envy, 
but  cannot  hope  to  equal  them.  I  have  known  Span- 
iards who  possessed  100,000  oxen.  "Who  can  reckon 
the  number  of  hides  daily  employed  in  manufacturing 
ropes,  building  hedges  and  houses,  making  trunks, 


84  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

saddles,  and  inwrappers  for  the  herb  Paraguay,  tobac- 
co, sugar,  wheat,  cotton  and  other  things  ?  The  com- 
mon people  among  the  Spaniards  have  no  other  bed 
than  an  ox-hide  spread  on  the  ground,  which  is  also 
the  case  with  an  innumerable  crowd  of  negro  slaves. 
Beef  is  the  principal,  and  almost  the  only  food  of  the 
lower  orders  in  Paraguay.  Moreover  that  quantity 
of  meat  which  would  overload  the  stomach  of  a  Euro- 
pean, is  scarcely  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  appetite  of  an 
American.  A  Guarany  after  a  very  few  hours'  fast 
will  devour  a  young  calf.  An  Indian  before  he  lies 
down  to  sleep,  places  a  piece  of  meat  to  roast  at  the 
fire,  that  he  may  fall  immediately  to  eating  when  he 
wakes.  Place  food  before  him,  and  the  rising  and  the 
setting  sun  will  behold  him  with  his  jaws  at  work 
and  his  mouth  full,  but  with  an  appetite  still  unsati- 
ated.  Such  being  the  voracity  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
so  continual  the  slaughter  of  innumerable  oxen,  you 
will  agree  with  me  that  Paraguay  may  be  called  the 
devouring  grave,  as  well  as  the  nursery  of  cattle. 

"  Besides  this  incredible  multitude  of  oxen,  Paraguay 
breeds  an  infinite  number  of  horses,  all  sprung  from, 
seven  mares  which  the  Spaniards  brought  with  them. 
The  whole  of  that  plain  country  extending  from  the 
La  Plata  full  two  hundred  leagues  in  every  direction, 
is  covered  with  droves  of  wandering  horses,  of  which 
any  person  may  catch  as  many  as  he  likes.  Some 
horsemen  within  a  few  days,  bring  home  more  than  a 
thousand  horses  from  the  plains.  A  hunt  of  this  kind 
is  performed  in  various  ways,  some  catch  every  horse 
they  come  near  with  a  rope  of  hide ;  others  construct 
a  hedge  with  a  wide  entrance,  like  the  sleeve  of  a 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  85 

garment,  through  which  they  drive  a  herd  of  horses 
separated  from  the  rest,  into  an  inclosed  space,  where 
after  they  have  been  confined  for  some  time,  hunger 
and  thirst  render  them  gentle,  and  they  are  easily  led 
away  in  company  with  the  tame  horses.  Sometimes 
a  part  of  the  plain  is  set  on  fire,  and  a  new  growth  of 
grass  springing  up,  the  horses  crowd  into  the  spot  to 
graze,  where  they  are  surrounded  by  the  hunters." 

The  voyager  Dampier  gives  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  the  manner  of  hunting  wild  cattle,  or  hocksing, 
as  he  calls  it,  in  Campeachy.  "  This  way  of  hocksing 
bullocks  seems  peculiar  to  the  Spaniards,  especially 
to  those  that  live  hereabout,  who  are  very  dexterous  at 
it.  For  this  reason  some  of  them  are  constantly  em- 
ployed in  it  all  the  year,  and  so  become  very  expert. 
The  hockser  is  mounted  on  a  good  horse  bred  up  to 
the  sport,  who  knows  so  well  when  to  advance  or 
retreat  upon  occasion,  that  a  rider  has  no  trouble  to 
manage  him.  His  arms  are  a  hocksing-iron,  which  is 
made  in  the  shape  of  a  half-moon,  with  a  very  sharp 
edge.  This  iron  is  fastened  by  a  socket  to  a  pole 
about  14  or  15  feet  long.  When  the  hockser  is 
mounted,  he  lays  the  pole  over  the  head  of  his  horse 
with  iron  forward,  and  then  rides  after  his  game,  and 
having  overtaken  it,  strikes  his  iron  just  above  the 
hock,  and  hamstrings  it.  The  horse  presently  wheels 
off  to  the  left,  for  the  wounded  beast  makes  at  him  pre- 
sently with  all  his  force,  but  he  scampers  away  a  good 
distance  before  he  comes  about  again.  If  the  ham- 
string is  not  quite  cut  asunder  with  the  stroke,  yet  the 
bullock  by  continual  springing  out  his  leg,  certainly 
breaks  it,  and  then  can  go  but  on  three  legs,  yet  still 
xviu. — 8 


8b  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

limps  forward  to  be  revenged  on  his  enemy.  Then 
the  hockser  rides  up  softly  to  him  and  strikes  his 
iron  into  the  knee  of  one  of  his  forelegs,  and  then  he 
immediately  tumbles  down.  He  gets  off  his  horse, 
and  taking  a  sharp  pointed  strong  knife,  strikes  it  into 
his  poll  a  little  behind  the  horns  so  dexterously,  that 
at  one  blow  he  cuts  off  the  string  of  his  neck,  and 
down  falls  his  head.  This  they  call  polling.  Then 
the  hockser  immediately  mounts  arid  rides  after  more 
game,  leaving  the  other  to  the  skinners  who  are  at 
hand  and  ready  to  take  care  of  his  hide.  The  right 
ear  of  the  hocksing  horse  by  the  weight  of  the  pole 
laid  constantly  over  it  when  on  duty,  hangs  down 
always,  by  which  you  may  know  it  from  other  horses. 
"  The  Spaniards  pick  and  choose  only  the  bulls 
and  old  cows,  and  leave  the  young  cattle  to  breed,  by 
which  means  they  always  preserve  their  stock  entire. 
On  the  contrary,  the  English  and  French  kill  without 
distinction,  yea,  the  young  rather  than  the  old,  with- 
out regard  of  keeping  up  their  stock.  Jamaica  is  a 
remarkable  instance  of  this  our  folly  in  this  particu- 
lar, for  when  it  was  first  taken  by  the  English,  the 
savannas  were  well  stocked  with  cattle,  but  they 
were  soon  destroyed  by  our  soldiers.  Our  English 
hunters  have  much  lessened  the  numbers  of  the  cattle 
in  Campeachy,  and  those  that  are  left,  by  constant 
shooting  are  grown  so  wild  and  desperate,  that  it  is 
dangerous  for  a  single  man  to  fire  at  them  or  to  venture 
through  the  savannas.  For  the  old  bulls  that  have 
been  formerly  shot,  will  make  at  him ;  and  they  will 
all  draw  up  in  battalia  to  defend  themselves  upon  our 
approach,  the  old  bulls  in  the  front,  behind  them  the 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  87 

cows  in  the  same  manner,  and  behind  them  the  young 
cattle.  And  if  we  strive  to  wheel  about  to  get  in  the 
rear,  the  bulls  will  certainly  face  about  that  way  and 
still  present  a  front  to  us.  Therefore  we  seldom 
strive  to  shoot  any  out  of  a.  great  herd,  but  walk  about 
in  the  woods  close  by  the  savanna,  and  there  we 
light  of  our  game.  The  beast  makes  directly  at  the 
hunter  if  it  be  desperately  wounded,  as  I  have  experi- 
enced myself,  but  if  but  slightly,  they  commonly  run 
away. 

"  The  old  hunters  tell  us  that  a  cow  is  more  danger- 
ous of  the  two.  because,  they  say,  she  runs  at  her 
enemy  with  her  eyes  open ;  but  the  bull  shuts  his,  so 
that  you  may  easily  avoid  him.  But  this  I  cannot 
affirm  of  my  own  knowledge,  and  rather  doubt  the 
truth  of  it,  for  I  knew  one  shrewdly  gored  by  a  bull. 
He  was  a  consort  with  Mr.  Baker  in  the  West 
Lagoon,  where  having  tired  themselves  cutting  log- 
wood, they  took  an  occasion  to  go  in  their  canoe  to 
Beef  Island,  to  refresh  themselves  there  a  fortnight  or 
three  weeks,  because  here  were  several  sorts  of  fruits, 
and  plenty  of  cabbage  to  eat  with  their  fresh  beef, 
which  they  could  not  fail  to  meet  with.  They  came  to 
a  place  called  the  Salt  Creek,  and  there  they  built  them 
a  hut.  About  4  o'clock,  while  Mr.  Baker  lay  down  to 
sleep,  his  consort  marched  out  into  the  savanna  about 
a  mile  from  their  hut,  and  there  coming  within  shot 
of  a  bull,  wounded  him  desperately ;  but  yet  the  bull 
had  still  so  much  strength  left,  as  to  pursue  and  over- 
take his  adversary,  trampling  on  him  and  goring  his 
thigh  so  that  he  was  not  able  to  rise.  The  bull  by 
this  time  was  spent  and  fell  down  dead  by  him ;  and 


88 


CATTLE    HUNTING. 


there  the  man  had  also  perished,  if  Mr.  Baker  had  not 
come  the  next  morning  to  seek  him,  who,  finding  him 
by  the  dead  beast,  took  him  on  his  back  and  lugged 
him  home  to  their  hut. 

"The  cattle  in  this  country  are  large  and  fat  in 
February,  March  and  April ;  at  other  times  of  the 
year  they  are  fleshy  but  not  fat,  yet  sweet  enough. 
When  they  have  killed  a  beef,  they  cut  it  into  four 
quarters,  and  taking  out  all  the  bones,  each  man 
makes  a  hole  in  the  middle  of  his  quarter,  just  big 
enough  for  his  head  to  go  through,  then  puts  it  on  like 
a  frock,  and  trudgeth  home  ;  and  if  he  chances  to  tire, 
he  cuts  off  some  of  it  and  flings  it  away.  It  is  a 
diversion  pleasant  enough,  though  not  without  some 
danger,  to  hunt  in  a  canoe ;  for  then  the  cattle  hav- 
ing no  other  feeding-places  than  the  sides  of  the 
savannas,  which  are  sometimes  higher  ground  than 
the  middle,  they  are  forced  sometimes  to  swim.  So 
that  we  may  easily  come  to  shoot  them  when  they  are 
thus  in  the  water.  The  beast,  when  she  is  so  hard 
pursued,  that  she  cannot  escape,  turns  about  and 
comes  full  tilt  at  the  canoe,  and  striking  her  head 
against  the  prow,  drives  her  back  twenty  or  thirty 
paces ;  then  she  scampers  away  again.  But  if  she 
has  received  a  wound,  she  commonly  pursues  us  till 
she  is  knocked  down.  Our  chiefest  care  is  to  keep 
the  head  of  the  canoe  towards  her,  for  if  she  should 
strike  against  the  broadside,  it  would  endanger  over- 
setting it,  and  consequently  wetting  our  arms  and 
ammunition.  Besides,  the  savannas  at  this  time 
swarm  with  alligators,  and  are,  therefore,  the  more 
dangerous  on  that  account. 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  89 

"  When  we  killed  a  beef,  if  there  were  more  than 
four  of  us,  the  overplus  went  to  seek  fresh  game,  while 
the  rest  dressed  it.  I  went  out  the  first  Sunday  and 
complied  very  well  with  my  master's  order,  which  was 
only  to  help  drive  the  cattle  out  of  the  savannas  into 
the  woods,  where  two  or  three  men  lay  to  shoot  them ; 
and  having  killed  our  game,  we  reached  home  with 
our  burthens.  The  next  Saturday  after,  I  went  with 
a  design  to  kill  a  beef  myself,  thinking  it  more  honor 
to  try  my  own  skill  in  shooting,  than  only  to  drive  the 
game  for  others  to  shoot  at.  We  went  now  to  a  place 
called  the  Upper  Savanna,  going  four  miles  in  our 
canoes,  and  then  landing,  walked  one  mile  through 
the  woods,  before  we  came  into  the  savanna,  and 
marched  about  two  miles  in  it  before  we  came  to  any 
game.  Here  I  gave  my  companions  the  slip,  and 
wandered  so  far  into  the  woods  that  I  lost  myself; 
neither  could  I  find  the  way  into  the  open  savanna, 
but  instead  of  that,  ran  directly  from  it  through  small 
spots  of  savannas  and  skirts  of  woods.  This  was 
some  time  in  May,  and  it  was  between  ten  o'clock  and 
one,  that  I  was  (as  we  called  it,  I  suppose  from  the 
Spaniards,)  marooned,  or  lost,  and  quite  out  of  the 
hearing  of  my  comrades'  guns.  I  was  somewhat  sur- 
prised at  this,  but  however,  I  knew  I  should  find  my 
way  out  as  soon  as  the  sun  was  a  little  lower.  So  I 
sat  down  to  rest  myself,  resolving,  however,  to  run  no 
farther  out  of  my  way,  for  the  sun  being  so  near  the 
zenith,  I  could  not  distinguish  how  to  direct  my  course. 
Being  weary,  and  almost  faint  fo'r  want  of  water,  I 
Was  forced  to  have  recourse  to  the  wild  pines,  and 
was  by  them  supplied,  or  else  I  must  have  perished 
8* 


90  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

with  thirst.  About  three  o'clock  I  went  due  north,  as 
near  as  I  could  judge,  for  the  savanna  lay  east  and 
west,  and  I  was  on  the  south  side  of  it. 

"  At  sunset,  I  got  into  the  clear  open  savanna,  being 
about  two  leagues  wide  in  most  places,  but  how  long 
I  know  not.  It  is  well  stored  with  bullocks,  but  by 
frequent  hunting,  they  grow  shy  and  remove  farther 
up  the  country.  Here  I  found  myself  four  or  five 
miles  to  the  west  of  the  place  where  I  straggled  from 
my  companions.  I  made  homewards  with  all  the 
speed  I  could,  but  being  overtaken  by  the  night,  I  lay 
down  on  the  grass  a  good  distance  from  the  woods,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  wind  to  keep  the  moschetoes  from 
me  ;  but  in  vain  ;  for  in  less  than  an  hour's  time  I  was 
so  persecuted,  that  although  I  endeavored  to  keep  them 
off  by  fanning  myself  with  boughs,  and  shifting  my 
quarters  three  or  four  times,  yet  still  they  haunted  me 
so  that  I  could  get  no  sleep. 

"  At  daybreak,  I  got  up  and  directed  my  course  to 
the  creek  where  we  landed,  from  which  I  was  then 
about  two  leagues.  I  did  not  see  one  beast  of  any 
sort  whatever,  in  all  the  way,  though  the  day  before, 
I  saw  several  young  calves  that  could  not  follow  their 
dams,  but  even  these  were  gone  away,  to  my  great 
vexation  and  disappointment,  for  I  was  very  hungry. 
But  about  a  mile  further,  I  spied  ten  or  twelve  quams, 
perching  on  the  boughs  of  a  cotton  tree.  These  were 
not  shy  ;  therefore,  I  got  well  under  them,  and  having 
a  single  bullet,  but  no  shot  about  me,  fired  at  one  of 
them,  but  missed  it,  though  I  had  before  often  killed 
them  so.  Then  I  came  up  with,  and  fired  at,  five  or 
six  turkeys,  but  with  no  better  success ;  so  that  I  was 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  91 

forced  to  march  forward,  still  in  the  savanna,  toward 
the  creek ;  and  when  I  came  to  the  path  that  led  to  it 
through  the  woods,  I  found  to  my  great  joy,  a  hat 
stuck  upon  a  pole,  and  when  I  came  to  the  creek,  I 
found  another.  These  were  set  up  by  my  consorts 
who  were  gone  home  in  the  evening,  as  signals  that 
they  would  come  and  fetch  me.  Therefore,  I  sat 
down  and  waited  for  them ;  for  although  I  had  not 
then  above  three  leagues  home  by  water,  yet  it  would 
have  been  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  have  got 
thither  by  land,  by  reason  of  those  vast  impassable 
thickets  abounding  everywhere  along  the  creek's  side, 
wherein  I  have  known  some  puzzled  for  two  or  three 
days,  and  have  not  advanced  half  a  mile,  though  they 
labored  extremely  every  day.  Neither  was  I  disap- 
pointed in  my  hopes,  for  within  half  an  hour  after  my 
arrival  at  the  creek,  my  consorts  came,  bringing  every 
man  his  bottle  of  water  and  his  gun,  both  to  hunt  for 
game,  and  to  give  me  notice  by  firing,  that  I  might 
hear  them ;  for  I  have  known  several  men  lost  in  the 
like  manner,  and  never  heard  of  afterwards. 

"  Such  an  accident  befel  one  Captain  Hall  of  New 
England,  who  came  hither  in  a  Boston  ship,  to  take 
in  logwood,  and  was  freighted  by  two  Scotchmen;  and 
one  Mr.  W.  Cane,  an  Irishman,  who  designed  to  go 
with  goods  from  Jamaica  to  New  England.  For  that 
reason,  when  his  logwood  was  aboard,  he  tarried  at 
Trist  with  the  ship,  and  hunted  once  in  two  or  three 
days  for  beef  to  lengthen  out  his  salt  provision.  One 
morning,  the  captain  designing  to  hunt,  took  five  of 
his  men,  with  his  mate,  as  also  his  merchant,  Mr. 
Cane,  along  with  him.  They  landed  at  the  east  end 


92  CATTLE   HUNTING. 

of  the  island,  which  is  low  mangrove  land;  the 
savanna  is  a  considerable  distance  from  the  sea,  and 
therefore  it  is  troublesome  to  get  to  it.  However, 
unless  they  would  row  four  or  five  leagues  further, 
they  could  not  find  a  more  convenient  place ;  besides, 
they  doubted  not  of  Mr.  Cane's  skill  to  conduct  them. 
After  they  had  followed  him  a  mile  or  two  into  the 
woods,  the  captain  seeing  him  to  make  a  halt, — as 
being  in  some  doubt, — to  consider  of  the  way,  told  him 
in  derision,  that  he  was  but  a  sorry  woodsman,  and 
that  he  would  swing  him  but  twice  round  and  he 
should  not  guess  the  way  out  again;  and  saying  no 
more  to  him,  went  forward  and  bid  his  seamen  follow 
him,  which  they  did  accordingly.  Mr.  Cane,  after  he 
had  recollected  himself,  struck  off  another  way,  and 
desired  them  to  go  with  him ;  but  instead  of  that,  they 
were  all  for  following  the  captain.  In  a  short  time, 
Mr.  Cane  got  out  of  the  woods  into  the  savanna,  and 
there  killed  a  good  fat  cow,  and  quartering  it,  made  it 
fit  for  carriage,  supposing  the  captain  and  crew  would 
soon  be  with  him.  But  after  waiting  three  or  four 
hours,  and  firing  his  gun  several  times  without  hear- 
ing any  answer,  he  took  up  his  burden  and  returned 
toward  the  sea-side  ;  and  upon  giving  a  signal,  a  boat 
came  and  brought  him  aboard. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  captain  and  his  men,  after 
four  or  five  hours'  ranging  the  woods,  began  to  grow 
tired,  and  then  his  mate,  happily  trusting  more  to  his 
own  judgment,  left  him  and  the  four  seamen,  and 
about  four  or  five  o'clock,  being  almost  spent  with 
thirst,  got  out  of  the  woods  to  the  sea-shore,  and  as 
weak  as  he  was,  fired  his  gun  for  the  boat  to  fetch 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  93 

him,  which  was  immediately  done.  When  he  came 
aboard,  h%  gave  an  account  whereabout,  and  in  what  a 
condition,  he  left  the  captain  and  his  men  ;  but  it  being 
then  too  late  to  seek  him,  the  next  morning  very 
early  Mr.  Cane  and  two  seamen  taking  directions  from 
the  mate,  who  was  so  fatigued  that  he  could  not  stir, 
where  he  had  left  the  captain,  went  ashore,  and  at 
length  came  within  call  of  him,  and  at  last  found  him 
laid  down  in  a  thicket,  having  just  sense  to  call  out 
sometimes,  but  not  strength  enough  to  stand.  So  they 
were  forced  to  carry  him  to  the  sea-side.  When  they 
had  a  little  refreshed  him  with  brandy  and  water,  he 
told  them  how  his  company  had  fainted  for  thirst,  and 
dropped  down  one  after  another,  though  he  still 
encouraged  them- to  be  cheerful,  and  rest  themselves 
awhile,  till  he  got  some  supplies  of  water  for  them ; 
that  they  were  very  patient,  and  that  two  of  his  men 
held  out  till  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  then  they 
fainted  also.  But  he  himself  proceeded  in  quest  of  his 
way  till  night,  and  then  fell  down  in  the  place  where 
they  found  him.  The  two  seamen  carried  the  captain 
aboard,  while  Mr.  Cane  searched  about  for  the  rest, 
but  to  no  purpose,  for  he  returned  without  them,  and 
could  never  hear  of  them  afterwards." 

As  illustrating  the  perils  of  cattle  hunting  in  this 
quarter,  we  will  relate  another  adventure  from  the 
same  amusing  narrator.  "  In  the  very  height  of  the 
day-time,  seven  or  eight  men,  English  and  Irish,  went 
to  a  place  called  Pics  Pond,  or  Beef  Island,  to  hunt. 
This  pond  was  never  dry,  so  that  the  cattle  drew 
hither  in  swarms ;  but  after  two  or  three  days'  hunt- 
ing, they  were  shy,  and  would  not  come  near  the  pond 


94  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

till  night ;  and  then  if  an  army  of  men  had  lain  to 
oppose  them,  they  would  not  have  been  debarred  of 
water.  The  hunters,  knowing  their  custom,  lay  still 
all  day,  and  in  the  night  visited  this  pond,  and  killed 
as  many  beefs  as  they  could.  This  trade  they  had 
driven  a  week,  and  made  great  profit.  At  length,  an 
Irishman  going  to  the  pond  in  the  night,  stumbled 
over  an  alligator  that  lay  in  the  path.  The  alligator 
seized  him  by  the  knee  ;  at  which  the  man  cried  out, 
1  Help !  Help  ! '  His  consorts  not  knowing  what  the 
matter  was,  ran  all  away  from  their  huts,  supposing 
that  he  was  fallen  into  the  clutches  of  some  Spaniards, 
of  whom  they  were  afraid,  every  dry  season.  But 
poor  Daniel,  not  finding  any  assistance,  waited  till  the 
beast  opened  his  jaw  to  take  better  hold,  because  it  is 
usual  for  the  alligator  to  do  so,  and  then  snatched 
away  his  knee  and  slipped  the  butt-end  of  his  gun 
in  the  room  of  it,  which  the  alligator  gripped  so  hard 
that  he  pulled  it  out  of  his  hand,  and  so  went  away. 
The  man  being  near  a  small  tree,  climbed  up  out  of 
his  reach,  and  then  cried  out  to  his  consorts  to  come 
and  assist  him,  who  being  still  within  call,  and  watch- 
ing to  hear  the  issue  of  the  alarm,  made  haste  to  him 
with  firebrands  in  their  hands,  and  brought  him  away 
in  their  arms,  to  his  hut ;  for  he  was  in  a  deplorable 
condition,  and  not  able  to  stand  on  his  feet,  his  knee 
was  so  torn  with  the  alligator's  teeth.  The  gun  was 
found  the  next  day,  ten  or  twelve  paces  from  the  place 
where  he  was  seized,  with  two  long  holes  made  in  the 
butt-end  of  it,  one  on  each  side,  near  an  inch  deep,  for 
I  saw  the  gun  afterwards.  This  spoiled  their  sport 
for  a  time,  they  being  forced  to  carry  the  man  to  the 


BUFFALO    HUNTING.  95 

island  Trist,  where  their  ships  were,  which  was  six  or 
seven  leagues  distant.  This  Irishman  went  afterwards 
to  New  England,  in  a  ship  belonging  to  Boston,  and 
nine  or  ten  months  after  returned  to  the  bay  again,  being 
recovered  of  his  wound,  but  went  limping  ever  after." 

We  are  told  that  there  are  some  wild  cattle  in 
Texas  and  the  adjacent  districts  of  Mexico.  These, 
as  well  as  those  of  South  America,  are  the  offspring 
of  European  breeds,  introduced  centuries  ago,  by  the 
Spaniards.  The  wild  horses,  also,  of  which  there  are 
multitudes  in  the  far  west,  are  sprung  from  European 
races ;  neither  the  ox  nor  horse  being  natives  of  the 
American  continent.  Several  of  the  tribes  of  western 
Indians,  especially  the  Camanchees,  catch  great  num- 
bers of  the  wild  horses  of  the  plains,  and  break  them 
into  use.  * 

In  the  north  of  Europe,  the  bull  still  remains 
wild  in  the  dense  forests,  but  not  in  great  numbers. 
The  wild  buffalo,  which  is  found  in  small  herds  in 
Africa  and  Asia,  is  distinct  from  the  ox,  and  also  dif- 
ferent from  the  bison  or  buffalo  of  our  western  wilds. 
Neither  of  these  animals  furnishes  much  exercise  to 
the  enterprise  of  the  hunter. 


BUFFALO    HUNTING. 

THE  American  buffalo,  or  more  properly  bison,  is 
an  object  of  great  importance  to  the  hunters  and  trav- 
ellers in  the  western  regions  of  this  continent.  These 
animals  afford  the  chief  supplies  of  meat,  both  to  the 


96 


BUFFALO    HUNTING. 


whites  and  the  Indians  who  rove  over  the  immense 
plains  of  the  west.     Their  skins  form  excellent  robes, 


and  serve  for  bedding,  clothing,  and  various  other  pur- 
poses. The  Indians  moisten  the  skins  with  the  brains 
of  the  animal,  and  work  them  between  the  hands  till 
they  become  perfectly  supple.  The  robes  form  an 
excellent  protection  against  the  rain  when  the  hair 
side  is  worn  outward,  and  against  cold  when  it  is  worn 
inward.  On  these  robes,  the  Indians^frequentlymake 
drawings  of  their  great  battles  and  victories.  The 
hair  of  the  buffalo  has  been  sometimes  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  coarse  cloth. 

The  flesh  of  the  buffalo  is  somewhat  coarser  in  its  fibre 
than  that  of  the  domestic  ox,  yet  travellers  are  unanimous 
in  considering  it  equally  savory  as  an  article  of  food. 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  97 

The  flesh  is  more  agreeably  sapid,  as  the  grass  upon 
which  these  animals  feed  is  short,  firm  and  nutritious, 
being  very  different  from  the  luxuriant  and  less  saline 
grass  produced  on  a  more  fertile  soil.  The  fat  of  the  buf- 
falo is  said  to  be  far  sweeter  and  richer  than  that  of  the 
common  ox.  Of  all  the  parts  that  are  eaten,  the  hump 
is  the  most  famed  for  its  peculiar  flavor  and  deli- 
cacy ;  when  dressed  it  is  said  very  much  to  resemble 
marrow.  The  Indian  mode  of  cooking  the  hump  is 
to  cut  it  out  from  the  vertebrae,  after  which  the  spines 
of  bone  are  taken  out ;  the  denuded  portion  is  then 
covered  with  skin,  which  is  finally  sewed  to  .the  skin 
covering  the  hump.  The  hair  is  then  singed  and 
pulled  off,  and  the  whole  mass  is  put  into  a  hole  dug 
in  the  earth  for  its  reception,  which  has  been  pre- 
viously heated  by  a  strong  fire.  It  is  then  covered 
with  cinders  and  earth  about  a  foot  deep,  and  a  strong 
fire  is  made  over  it.  By  noon  of  the  next  day  it  is  fit 
for  use.  The  tongue  and  marrow-bones  are  also 
highly  esteemed.  To  preserve  the  flesh  for  future  use, 
the  hunters  and  Indians  cut  it  into  thin  slices  and  dry 
it  in  the  open  air ;  a  large  stock  of  meat  may  thus  be 
kept  for  a  considerable  length  of  time. 

From  the  dried  flesh  of  buffaloes,  the  fur-traders  of 
the  north-west  prepare  a  food  which  is  very  valuable 
on  account  of  .the  time  it  may  be  preserved  without 
spoiling.  The  flesh  is  placed  on  skins  and  pounded 
with  stones  until  sufficiently  pulverized.  It  is  then 
separated  as  much  as  possible  from  impurities,  and 
one  third  of  its  weight  of  melted  tallow  of  the  animal 
is  poured  over  it.  This  substance  is  called  pemmican, 
and  being  packed  firmly  in  bags  of  skin  of  a  conven- 

G  XVIII, — 9 


93  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

lent  size  for  transportation,  may  be  kept  for  a  year  or 
more  without  much  difficulty. 

During  August  and  September  the  flesh  of  the  bison 
bull  is  poor  and  disagreeably  flavored.  The  animals 
are,  however,  much  more  easily  killed,  being  not  so  vig- 
ilant as  the  cows,  and  sometimes  allowing  the  hunters 
easily  to  come  up  with  them.  Lewis  and  Clarke  relate, 
that  once  approaching  a  large  herd,  the  bulls  would 
scarcely  move  out  of  their  way,  and  as  they  approached, 
they  would  merely  look  at  them  for  a  moment  as 
at  something  new,  and  then  quietly  resume  their 
grazing.  The  sense  of  smelling  is  remarkably  acute 
in  this  animal,  and  it  is  stated  by  hunters  that  the 
odor  of  the  white  man  is  far  more  terrifying  to  them 
than  that  of  the  Indian. 

The  herds  of  buffaloes  wander  over  the  country  in 
search  of  food,  usually  led  by  a  bull  most  remarkable 
for  strength  and  firmness.  While  feeding,  they  are 
often  scattered  over  a  great  extent  of  country,  but 
when  they  move  in  a  mass,  they  form  a  dense  and 
almost  impenetrable  column,  which,  once  in  motion,  is 
scarcely  to  be  impeded.  Their  line  of  march  is  sel- 
dom interrupted  even  by  considerable  rivers,  across 
which  they  swim  without  fear  or  hesitation  nearly  in 
the  order  that  they  traverse  the  plains.  When  flying 
before  their  pursuer  it  would  be  in  vain  for  the  fore- 
most to  halt  or  attempt  to  obstruct  the  progress  of  the 
main  body ;  as  the  throng  in  the  rear  is  still  rushing 
onward,  the  leaders  must  advance  although  destruction 
awaits  the  movement.  The  Indians  take  advantage 
of  this  circumstance  to  destroy  great  numbers  of  them, 
and  certainly,  no  mode  could  be  resorted  to  more 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  99 

effectually  destructive,  nor  could  a  more  terrible  de- 
vastation be  produced  than  that  of  forcing  a  numerous 
herd  of  these  large  animals  to  leap  together  from  the 
brink  of  a  dreadful  precipice  upon  a  rocky  and  broken 
surface  a  hundred  feet  below. 

When  the  Indians  determine  to  destroy  buffaloes  in 
this  way,  one  of  their  swiftest  footed  and  most  active 
young  men  is  selected,  who  is  disguised  in  a  buffalo 
skin,  having  the  head,  ears  and  horns  adjusted  on  his 
own  head,  so  as  to  make  the  deception  very  complete, 
and  thus  accoutred  he  stations  himself  between  the 
herd  and  some  of  the  precipices  that  often  extend  for 
several  miles  along  the  rivers.  The  Indians  surround 
the  herd  as  nearly  as  possible,  when  at  a  given  signal 
they  show  themselves  and  rush  forward  with  loud 
yells.  The  animals  being  alarmed,  and  seeing  no 
way  open  but  in  the  direction  of  the  disguised  Indian, 
run  towards  him,  and  he  taking  to  flight,  dashes  on  to 
the  precipice  where  he  suddenly  secures  himself  in 
some  previously  ascertained  crevice.  The  foremost 
of  the  herd  arrive  at  the  brink  ;  there  is  no  possibility 
of  retreat,  no  chance  of  escape  ;  the  foremost  may  for 
an  instant  shrink  with  terror,  but  the  crowd  behind, 
who  are  terrified  by  the  approaching  hunters,  rush 
forward  with  increasing  impetuosity,  and  the  aggre- 
gated force  hurls  them  successively  into  the  gulf,  where 
certain  death  awaits  them. 

It  is  very  fortunate  that  this  sanguinary  and  waste- 
ful method  of  killing  buffaloes  is  not  very  frequently 
put  in  practice  by  the  savages,  or  we  might  expect 
these  animals  in  a  few  years  to  become  entirely  ex- 
tinct. The  waste  is  not  the  only  unpleasant  circum- 


100  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

stance  consequent  upon  it ;  for  the  air,  in  the  space  of  a 
few  days,  is  filled  with  the  horrible  stench  arising  from 
the  putrefying  carcasses  not  consumed  by  the  Indians 
after  so  extensive  and  indiscriminate  a  slaughter.  For 
a  considerable  time  following  such  an  occurrence,  the 
wolves  and  vultures  feast  sumptuously,  and  fatten  to 
tameness  on  the  disgusting  remains,  becoming  so  gentle 
and  fearless  as  to  allow  themselves  to  be  approached 
by  men  and  knocked  down  with  a  stick. 

A  more  common  way  of  killing  buffaloes  is  by 
attacking  them  on  horseback.  The  Indians,  mounted 
and  well  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  encircle  the 
herd  and  gradually  drive  them  into  a  situation  favor- 
able to  the  employment  of  the  horse.  They  then  ride 
in  and  single  out  one,  generally  a  female,  and  follow- 
ing her  as  closely  as  possible,  wound  her  with  arrows 
until  the  mortal  blow  is  given,  when  they  go  in  pur- 
suit of  others  until  their  quivers  are  exhausted. 
Should  a  wounded  buffalo  attack  the  hunter,  he 
escapes  by  the  agility  of  his  horse,  which  is  usually 
well  trained  for  the  purpose.  When  the  hunting  is 
ended,  and  a  sufficiency  of  game  is  killed,  the  squaws 
come  up  from  the  rear  to  skin  and  dress  the  meat,  a 
business  in  which  they  have  acquired  great  dexterity. 
If  a  buffalo  is  found  dead  without  an  arrow  in  his 
body,  or  any  particular  mark  attached,  it  becomes  the 
property  of  the  finder. 

When  the  ice  is  breaking  up  on  the  rivers  in  the 
spring,  the  dry  grass  of  the  surrounding  plains  is  set 
on  fire,  and  the  buffaloes  are  tempted  to  cross  the 
rivers  in  search  of  the  young  grass  that  immediately 
succeeds  the  burning  of  the  old.  In  the  attempt  to 


CATTLE    HUNTING.  101  ' 

cross,  they  are  often  insulated  on  large  cakes  of  ice. 
The  savages  select  the  most  favorable  points  for  attack, 
and  as  the  buffalo  drifts  along,  the  Indians  leap  with 
wonderful  agility  over  the  ice  to  attack  him,  and  as 
the  animal  is  necessarily  unsteady,  and  his  footing 
very  insecure,  he  is  soon  conquered. 

The  Creek  Indians  make  a  buffalo-pound  by  fencing 
a  circular  space  of  about  a  hundred  yards'  diameter. 
The  entrance  is  banked  up  with  snow  sufficiently  high 
to  prevent  the  animals  from  retreating  after  they  have 
once  entered.  For  about  a  mile  on  each  side  of  the  road 
leading  to  the  pound,  stakes  are  driven  into  the  ground 
at  nearly  equal  distances  of  about  twenty  yards,  which 
are  intended  to  look  like  men  and  to  deter  the  animal 
from  endeavoring  to  break  through  the  fence.  Within 
fifty  or  sixty  yards  of  the  pound,  branches  of  trees  are 
placed  between  the  stakes  to  screen  the  Indians  who 
lie  down  behind  them  to  wait  for  the  approach  of  the 
buffaloes.  The  mounted  hunters  display  the  greatest 
dexterity  in  this  sort  of  chase,  as  they  are  obliged  to 
manoeuvre  around  the  herd  in  the  plains,  so  as  to  urge 
them  into  the  road,  which  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
broad.  When  this  is  effected,  the  Indians  raise  loud 
shouts,  and  pressing  closely  on  the  animals,  terrify 
them  so  much  that  they  rush  heedlessly  forvvlird  to- 
wards the  snare.  When  they  have  advanced  as  far  as 
the  men  who  are  lying  in  ambush,  these  also  show 
themselves,  increasing  the  consternation  of  the  buf- 
faloes by  shouting  violently  and  firing  their  guns. 
The  affrighted  animals  have  no  choice  but  to  rush 
directly  forward  into  the  pound,  where  they  are  quickly 
despatched  with  guns  or  arrows. 
9* 


102  CATTLE    HUNTING. 

To  show  the  strength  of  the  buffalo's  sense  of 
smelling,  we  may  relate  the  following  circumstance 
which  took  place  during  Major  Long's  expedition. 
The  party  were  riding  through  a  dreary  and  uninter- 
esting country,  which  at  that  time  was  enlivened  by 
vast  numbers  of  buffaloes,  which  were  moving  in  count- 
less thousands  in  every  direction.  As  the  wind  was 
blowing  fresh  from  the  south,  the  scent  of  the  party 
was  wafted  directly  across  the  river  Platte,  and 
over  a  distance  of  eight  or  ten  miles  ;  every  step 
of  its  progress  was  distinctly  marked  by  the  alarm  and 
consternation  it  produced  among  the  buffaloes.  The 
instant  their  atmosphere  was  infected  by  the  tainted 
gale,  they  ran  as  violently  as  if  pursued  by  mounted 
hunters,  and  instead  of  fleeing  from  the  'danger,  they 
turned  their  heads  towards  the  wind,  eager  to  escape 
the  terrifying  odor.  They  dashed  obliquely  forward 
towards  the  party,  and  plunging  into  the  river,  swam, 
waded  and  ran  with  headlong  violence,  in  several 
instances  breaking  through  the  expedition's  line  of 
march.  One  of  the  party,  perceiving  from  the  direc- 
tion taken  by  the  bull  which  led  the  extended  column, 
that  he  would  emerge  from  the  low  river  bottom  at  a 
point  where  the  precipitous  bank  was  deeply  worn  by 
much  travelling,  urged  his  horse  rapidly  forward  that 
he  might  reach  this  station  in  order  to  gain  a  nearer 
view  of  these  interesting  animals.  He  had  but  just 
gained  the  spot  when  the  formidable  leader  bounding 
up  the  steep,  reached  the  summit  of  the  bank  with  his 
fore  feet,  and  in  this  position  suddenly  halted  from 
his  full  career,  and  fiercely  glared  at  the  horse  which 
stood  full  in  his  path.  The  horse  was  panic-struck 


BEAR    HUNTING.  103 

by  the  sudden  apparition,  trembled  violently  from  fear, 
and  would  have  wheeled  and  taken  to  flight,  had  not 
his  rider  exerted  his  utmost  strength  to  restrain  him. 
He  recoiled,  however,  a  few  feet,  and  sunk  down  upon 
his  haunches.  The  buffalo  halted  for  a  moment,  but 
urged  forward  by  the  irresistible  pressure  of  the  mov- 
ing column  behind,  he  rushed  onward  by  the  half-sit- 
ting horse.  The  herd  then  came  swiftly  on,  crowd- 
ing up  the  narrow  defile.  The  party  had  now  reached 
the  spot,  and  extended  along  a  considerable  distance ; 
the  buffaloes  ran  in  a  confused  manner  in  various  direc- 
tions to  gain  the  distant  bluff,  and  many  were  com- 
pelled to  pass  through  the  line  of  march.  This  scene, 
added  to  the  plunging  and  roaring  of  those  which  were 
yet  crossing  the  river,  produced  a  grand  effect,  that 
was  heightened  by  the  fire  opened  upon  them  by  the 
hunters. 


BEAR    HUNTING. 

THERE  is  a  considerable  variety  of  species  in 
the  family  of  bears,  among  which  the  brown  bear  of 
Europe  and  Asia  is  the  most  common.  This  was 
once  numerous  in  all  the  temperate  regions  of  the 
eastern  continent,  but  it  is  now  found  only  in  the 
northern  portions.  Beside  this,  thore  are  the  Thibet, 
jungle,  Indian  and  Malay  bears,  of  the  eastern  hemis- 
phere ;  the  white,  or  sea-bear,  of  the  polar  regions ; 
and  the  black,  grizzly,  barren  ground  and  spectacled 
bears,  of  America.  The  latter  is  confined  to  the  trop- 


104  BEAR    HUNTING. 

ical  portions  of  the  Andes,  and  is  the  only  species 
found  in  hot  countries. 


Black  bear  of  America, 

In  all  countries  which  it  inhabits,  the  brown  bear  is 
a  favorite  animal  with  the  hunter,  as>  well  on  account 
of  its  skin  as  its  flesh.  To  the  rude  tribes  which 
inhabit  Asia,  it  is  of  the  greatest  value.  It  abounds 
particularly  in  Kamschatka,  and  here  the  people  make 
beds,  coverlets,  caps,  gloves,  snow-shoes  and  harness 
of  its  skin  ;  of  its  fat  they  make  oil,  and  its  flesh  is  a 
favorite  species  of  food.  Of  the  intestines  they  make 
window  panes  and  masks  to  preserve  the  face  of  the 
ladies  from  the  weather.  The  shoulder  blades  are  con- 
verted into  sickles  for  cutting  grass. 

ID  northern  countries  the  skin  of  the  bear  is  cov- 
eted for  its  fur ;  its  grease  is  sent  to  all  the  capitals 
of  Europe,  to  be  converted  into  pomatum  for  the  hair, 
and  multitudes  are  caught  young  and  trained  to  vari- 


BEAR    HUNTING.  105 

ous  tricks,  for  which  the  creature  has  an  aptitude. 
Many  stratagems  are  naturally  resorted  to  for  the  cap- 
ture of  an  animal  in  such  request  as  well  in  the 
countries  where  he  is  found  as  in  more  distant 
regions.  In  many  cases  he  is  openly  attacked  with 
clubs,  spears  and  fire  arms ;  in  some  cases  he  is 
caught  in  traps  of  logs,  in  others,  he  is  taken  in  pit- 
falls. Sometimes  a  noose  is  so  placed  with  a  bait, 
that  the  creature  in  attempting  to  seize  the  latter,  is 
strangled. 

Hunting  wild  animals  is  practised  in  Sweden  by 
what  is  called  a  skall,  in  which  great  numbers  of  people 
surround  a  large  extent  of  territory,  and  march  toward 
a  central  point,  driving  the  animals  before  them,  till  they 
are  pent  up  in  so  narrow  a  space  that  they  cannot 
escape  the  shots  of  the  hunters.  By  the  laws  of 
Sweden,  when  a  skall  takes  place  in  any  particular 
district,  every  house  where  cattle  are  kept  is  compelled 
to  furnish,  when  required  by  the  authorities,  one  man, 
as  a  contingent  to  aid  in  the  hunt ;  as  it  is  equally  the 
interest  of  all  persons  possessing  cattle  to  destroy  such 
ferocious  animals  as  wolves  and  bears.  Should  a  Sun- 
day or  other  holiday  intervene  between  the  appoint- 
ment and  the  execution  of  the  skall,  a  notification  is 
given  out  from  the  pulpit,  just  before  the  conclusion 
of  divine  service,  specifying  the  number  of  people 
required,  the  district  from  which  they  are  to  come, 
and  the  day,  hour,  and  place  of  rendezvous. 

The  formation  and  arrangements  of  the  skalls  vary 
with  the  season  of  the  year  and  nature  of  the  country. 
In  the  summer  skalls  the  greatest  variety  of  game  is 
collected.  The  winter  skalls  commonly  embrace  a 


106     f  BEAR    HUNTING. 

smaller  extent  of  country,  and  bears  are  usually  their 
object.  The  act  of  ascertaining  the  spot  in  which  a 
bear  has  taken  up  his  quarters  in  winter  is  called 
ringing,  and  is  thus  performed.  When  there  is  snow 
upon  the  ground,  and  the  track  of  the  animal  is  dis- 
covered, a  person  follows  it  until  he  judges  himself 
near  the  bear's  retreat.  This  is  indicated  by  his  pro- 
ceeding very  slowly  and  in  a  round-about  course,  or 
rather  by  his  doubling  in  the  same  manner  as  a  hare, 
for  as  long  as  he  goes  in  a  straight  line  he  has  no 
intention  of  lying  down.  The  man  now  leaves  the 
track,  and  begins  making  an  extended  ring  round  the 
suspected  part  of  the  forest.  Should  he  complete  this 
circle  without  again  meeting  with  the  track,  he  may 
be  certain  that  the  bear  is  within  it.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, he  finds  that  the  animal  has  proceeded  beyond 
it,  he  commences  another  ring,  and  thus  he  continues 
till  he  succeeds  in  accomplishing  his  object.  Some- 
times the  ring  is  six  or  eight  miles  in  circumference  ; 
at  other  times  not  more  than  one  To  ring  a  bear 
properly  demands  great  experience,  and  during  the 
operation  the  greatest  silence  and  caution  are  neces- 
sary. 

The  following  account  of  a  skall  in  Dalecarlia  is  ex- 
tracted from  Lloyd's  Field  Sports  of  the  North  of  Eu- 
rope :  "  I  was  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  province  of 
Dalecarlia  when  an  express  reached  me  from  Mr.  Falk, 
with  intelligence  that  a  she-bear  and  three  very  large 
cubs  had  been  roused  from  their  winter  quarters,  near 
to  a  hamlet  called  Skoga,  situated  about  seven  or  eight 
miles  from  Stjern.  He  added,  further,  that  they  were 
safely  *  ringed,'  there  being  at  that  time  much  snow 


BEAK    HUNTING.  107 

upon  the  ground,  and  that  he  intended  forthwith  hav- 
ing a  skall  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  them.  On. 
receiving  this  information,  I  lost  no  time  in  retracing 
my  steps  to  the  southward,  upon  which  Mr.  Falk,  who 
had  handsomely  deferred  making  his  final  arrange- 
ments until  my  arrival,  fixed  upon  an  early  day  for 
the  hunt.  A  Sunday  happening  to  intervene,  the 
usual  notification  was  given  in  the  several  churches 
and  the  requisite  number  of  men  were  ordered  out. 

"  At  an  early  hour  on  the  appointed  morning,  the 
weather  being  clear  and  cold,  Mr.  Falk,  together  with 
several  other  gentlemen  and  myself,  proceeded  to  the 
place  of  rendezvous,  which  was  at  some  little  distance 
westward  of  a  lake  called  the  Boda.  Here  we  found 
upwards  of  five  hundred  men  assembled,  whom  Mr. 
Falk  immediately  formed  into  two  divisions,  and  as 
they  were  universally  armed  either  with  axes,  pikes 
or  guns,  they  presented,  as  may  be  supposed,  a  rather 
warlike  appearance.  When  all  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments were  completed,  the  people  were  marched  off 
in  single  file  to  the  ring,  which  was  on  the  summit 
of  a  rather  lofty  range  of  hills  at  about  three  or  four 
miles  to  the  westward.  Mr.  F^lk,  on  this  occasion, 
took  the  command  in  person  of  the  dref  or  driving 
division ;  the  other,  the  hallet,  or  stationary  divi- 
sion, he  entrusted  to  one  of  the  under  forest-keepers, 
Jan  Finne,  one  of  the  most  daring  bear  hunters  in  the 
kingdom.  Though  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  this  man 
had  killed,  according  to  his  own  statement,  sixty-five 
of  those  animals  with  his  own  gun,  independently  of 
several  others  in  whose  death  he  had  been  accessory 
in  skalls  or  otherwise.  He  had  never  been  wounded 


108  FEAR    HUNTING. 

in  a  single  instance,  which  was  rather  remarkable  for 
an  old  bear  hunter  ;  though  by  his  own  statement  he 
had  experienced  several  narrow  escapes.  His  good 
fortune  in  thus  avoiding  accidents  was,  however, 
owing  to  his  management  and  judgment  as  well  as 
to  his  superior  skill  in  the  use  of  the  skidor  or  snow- 
skates. 

"  The  skall  formed  a  circle,  the  circumference  of 
which  was  upwards  of  4000  paces.  This  was  of  a 
greater  magnitude  than  is  usual  in  the  winter,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  known  wildness  of  the  bears  we  were 
then  about  to  attack,  those  animals  having  already 
been  on  foot. and  changed  their  quarters  three  several 
times  since  they  had  been  first  disturbed  about  ten 
days  before.  For  this  reason  it  was  highly  inexpe- 
dient that  the  cordori  should  approach  too  near  to 
them  in  the  first  instance.  The  extent  of  the  ring 
was  previously  known  to  Mr.  Falk,  from  one  of  his 
people  having  reckoned  the  exact  number  of  steps  it 
took  him  to  go  round  it.  On  our  way  to  the  ring  we 
met  with  one  of  Mr.  Falk's  people,  who  reported  the 
bears  to  be  still  safe  within  it.  This  was  the  more 
gratifying  intelligence,  as  from  those  animals  having 
so  frequently  changed  their  quarters  within  a  recent 
period,  we  were  not  a  little  apprehensive  that  they 
might  again  have  moved  ofT.  On  our  reaching  the 
vicinity  of  the  ring,  a  general  halt  took  place.  Here 
the  people  were  obliged  to  deposit  their  knapsacks, 
and  their  persons  also  underwent  a  vigorous  search  in 
order  to  deprive  them  of  any  brandy  they  might  hap- 
pen to  have  about  them,  as  in  the  event  of  a  few  men 
being  intoxicated  the  whole  order  of  a  skall  is  easily 


BEAR    HUNTING.  109 

destroyed.  Drunkenness,  on  these  occasions,  is  there- 
fore severely  punished  by  legal  enactments. 

"  After  a  little  reorganization  had  taken  place  among 
the  people,  we  again  moved  forward,  though  now  in 
the  most  perfect  silence,  towards  the  ring.  There  was 
a  light  air  at  this  time  from  the  eastward,  and  Mr. 
Falk,  in  consequence,  judiciously  ordered  Jan  Finne, 
whose  division  was  to  form  the  western  side  of  the 
skall,  which,  of  course,  would  be  under  the  wind,  to 
lead  in  the  first  instance.  This  precaution,  as  it  will 
presently  be  seen,  was  attended  with  the  most  fortu- 
nate results.  On  our  reaching  the  ring,  therefore, 
Jan  Finne,  with  his  division,  to  which  I  attached  my- 
self, branched  off  to  the  left,  whilst  Mr.  Falk,  with  the 
remainder  of  the  people,  took  the  opposite  direction. 
In  this  manner  we  proceeded  to  form  the  cordon,  the 
track  that  we  were  to  pursue  having  been  marked  out 
by  those  who  had  ringed  the  bears.  For  this  purpose 
the  rear  of  our  line  dropped  a  man,  as  had  been  previ- 
ously determined  upon,  at  about  every  nine  paces. 
The  people  forming  Mr.  Falk's  division  were  stationed 
somewhat  farther  apart  from  each  other. 

"  The  division  to  which  I  had  attached  myself  was, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  to  form  the  hallet,  or  station- 
ary part  of  the  skall.  After  proceeding,  therefore,  for 
some  distance,  and  on  coming  to  a  part  of  the  forest 
where  the  trees  were  rather  open,  and  where  there  was 
little  underwood,  I  placed  myself  in  the  most  favorable 
position  I  could  select,  some  few  paces  in  advance  of 
the  cordon.  Here  I  had  not  waited  more  than  ten 
minutes,  the  people  all  the  while  keeping  the  most 
guarded  silence,  when,  to  my  left,  a  great  shout  was 
xvni. — 10 


110  BEAR   HUNTING. 

set  up  of  '  The  bears !  the  bears  /'  In  looking  in  that 
direction  I  very  indistinctly  saw  one  of  those  animals 
at  about  a  hundred  paces'  distance;  but  he  was  so 
shrouded  in  the  thicket,  and  my  view  of  him  was  so 
transitory  that  I  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  fire. 
One  of  the  peasants,  however,  discharged  his  piece  at 
the  bears,  the  four  being  together,  though,  I  believe, 
without  effect.  This  shot,  nevertheless,  together  with 
the  shouts  of  the  people,  was  the  means  of  turning 
them,  for  they  instantly  headed  about  and  faced  toward 
the  opposite  or  eastern  side  of  the  ring.  It  was  fortu- 
nate they  took  this  direction,  as,  had  they  made  to 
the  northward,  from  the  cordon  being  at  that  time 
incomplete,  they  would  in  all  probability  have  escaped. 
I  was  much  afraid  this  would  have  been  the  case,  and 
so  were  Mr.  Falk  and  Jan  Finne,  both  of  whom,  on 
hearing  the  shout,  and  apprehending  what  might  hap- 
pen, hurried  forward  their  respective  divisions  as  fast 
as  possible,  and,  luckily,  they  were  in  time  to  form  a 
junction  before  the  bears  made  their  appearance  in  that 
direction. 

"  Everything  now  remained  perfectly  tranquil  for  a 
long  time ;  for  even  when  the  cordon  was  completed,  it 
became  necessary  to  strengthen  those  parts  that  were 
weakest,  as  well  as  to  make  other  arrangements.  At 
about  one  o'clock,  three  shots,  the  one  from  the  cen- 
tre, and  the  others  from  the  wings,  the  usual  signals  on 
these  occasions,  together  with  the  cries  of  the  people 
which  might  now  be  indistinctly  heard  in  the  distance, 
announced  that  it  was  advancing  toward  us.  Two 
hours  or  more,  however,  must  have  elapsed — during 
which,  from  the  thermometer  being  little  above  zero, 


BEAR    HUNTING?.  Ill 

and  from  my  being  provided  with  only  my  common 
shooting-jacket,  I  was  almost  dead  with  cold — before 
we  had  another  discharge  or  saw  anything  of  the 
bears ;  for  now  that  these  animals  found  themselves 
environed  on  every  side,  they  kept  the  closest  and 
most  tangled  brakes,  and  the  people,  as  is  usual  on 
these  occasions,  proceeded  at  a  very  slow  pace.  Be- 
ginning to  tire  at  last  with  remaining  so  long  in  the 
same  position,  I  advanced  alone  about  fifty  paces  fur- 
ther within  the  cordon,  where  I  stationed  myself  in 
such  a  situation  that  I  could  command  a  tolerable  view 
of  the  surrounding  forest.  This,  however,  was  alto- 
gether contrary  to  rule. 

"  Here  I  had  not  remained  a  very  long  while  when 
a  shot  to  my  left  gave  rue  to  understand  that  the  bears 
were  not  far  off ;  and  the  next  minute,  at  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  paces  from  where  I  stood,  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  them  as  they  were  crossing  a  small  open- 
ing among  the  trees.  The  old  bear  was  in  advance, 
and  the  cubs,  which  were  of  a  very  large  size,  were 
following  in  succession  upon  the  track.  I  might  now 
by  possibility,  hate  done  execution,  but  thinking,  from 
the  direction  they  were  taking,  that  they  would  come 
nearer  to  me,  I  refrained  from  firing ;  in  this,  how- 
ever, I  acted  wrong,  for,  instead  of  facing  toward  me 
as  I  had  anticipated,  they  made  for  the  opposite  side 
of  the  ring.  Presently  after,  the  shouts  of  the  people, 
together  with  several  shots,  plainly  indicated  that  they 
had  made  their  appearance  in  that  direction. 

"  Some  little  while  subsequent  to  this  I  was  joined 
by  Lieutenant  Oldenburg,  of  the  Swedish  army,  who 
resided  in  the  vicinity  of  my  quarters,  at  Stjern.  This 


112  BEAR    HUNTING. 

gentleman  and  myself  were  conversing  together  in  an 
under  tone  of  voice,  and  I  had  my  double-barrelled 
gun,  which  was  on  the  full  cock,  in  my  hand,  when 
two  of  the  young  bears,  either  of  them  as  large  as 
animals  of  that  species  we  are  accustomed  to  see  in 
England,  suddenly  made  their  appearance  on  the  out- 
skirts of  a  thick  brake,  at  about  twenty  paces  from 
where  we  stood.  On  seeing  us,  however,  they  squat- 
ted like  rabbits.  We  both  now  fired,  and  the  fore- 
most of  the  bears  as  instantly  fell ;  but  the  other  at 
the  same  moment  disappearing  in  the  brake,  I  had  no 
time  to  discharge  my  second  barrel.  As  the  one 
which  was  down  however,  showed  some  disposition 
to  get  on  his  legs  again,  I  ran  close  up  to  him  and 
sent  a  bullet  through  his  skull.  Besides  the  latter 
ball,  the  bear  only  received  one  other,  which,  on  his 
body  being  opened,  was  recognized  to  be  mine. 

"  For  a  while  all  remained  pretty  quiet,  but  presently 
afterwards,  the  tremendous  shouts  of  the  people  oppo- 
site to  us,  together  with  the  very  heavy  firing,  plainly 
told  us  the  remaining  bears  were  endeavoring  to 
make  their  escape  in  that  direction.*  The  scene  had 
now  become  very  animating.  After  a  time,  the  firing 
ceased  altogether,  and  Lieut.  Oldenburg  and  myself 
were  almost  led  to  conclude  that  all  the  bears  were 
slaughtered.  In  this  supposition  nevertheless,  we 
were  mistaken ;  for  presently  we  viewed  the  old  bear, 
who,  from  the  manner  of  dragging  herself  along,  was 
evidently  much  wounded,  as  she  was  slowly  making 
her  way  across  a  small  glade  in  the  forest.  I  sent  a 
ball  after  her,  but  as  she  quickly  disappeared  in  a 
thick  brake>  we  had  no  great  reason  to  suppose  it  took 
the  desired  effect. 


BEAR    HUNTING.  113 

"  In  the  space  of  two  or  three  minutes,  during  which 
several  shots  were  fired  immediately  opposite  to  us, 
we  again  saw  the  old  bear.  Owing  to  an  intervening 
brake,  however,  my  view  of  her  was  much  more  in- 
distinct than  that  obtained  by  my  companions.  At 
this  time  she  was  standing  motionless,  with  her  front 
towards  us,  and  at  about  ninety  paces'  distance.  Jan 
Finne  and  Oldenburg  lost  no  time  in  discharging 
their  rifles.  Jan  Finne  fired  the  first,  and  though 
without  a  rest  of  any  kind,  with  so  good  an  aim  that 
his  ball,  as  was  subsequently  found,  entered  the  breast 
near  to  the  shoulder,  and  ran  the  whole  length  of  the 
body  where  it  lodged  in  her  haunches.  She  did  not, 
however,  alter  her  position,  and  only  noticed  the 
wound  she  had  received  by  a  little  shake  of  her  head. 
Lieut.  Oldenburg  was,  however,  more  fortunate,  for 
dropping  on  one  knee,  and  though  like  Jan  Finne, 
without  a  rest,  he  took  so  good  a  direction  that  his 
ball  entered  the  heart  of  the  animal,  when  she  in- 
stantly fell  dead  upon  the  spot. 

"  The  firing  in  front  of  us  was,  at  intervals,  still  kept 
up  for  a  minute  or  two  longer,  and  then  ceased  alto- 
gether. On  this  Jan  Finne,  after  we  had  advanced 
up  to  the  bear  which  Lieut.  Oldenburg  and  himself 
had  just  shot,  hallooed  to  the  people  to  halt.  Though 
at  this  time  we  were  hardly  fifty  paces  from  them,  not 
one  of  them  could  we  distinguish  in  consequence  of 
the  closeness  of  the  cover.  Jan  Finne  now  informed 
Mr.  Falk,  who  was  along  with  his  division,  that  three 
of  the  bears  were  dead  within  the  ring ;  for  indepen- 
dently of  the  two  that  we  ourselves  had  killed,  we 
observed  a  third  lying  hors  de  combat  at  some  little 

H  10* 


114  BEAR   HUNTING. 

dis.tance.  In  reply,  that  gentleman  told  us  a  fourth 
was  killed  near  to  where  he  stood  ;  so  that  all  of  those 
of  which  we  had  come  in  pursuit — and  we  had  not  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  with  others  in  the  same  ring — 
were  now  slaughtered.  The  skall  was  then  quickly 
brought  to  a  conclusion,  for  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  hares  which  the  people  knocked  on  the  head  with 
sticks,  there  was  neither  wolf  nor  other  animal  re- 
maining within  the  ring." 

The  black  bear  of  America  is  similar  to  the  brown 
bear,  we  have  described.  It  is  now  rare,  east  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  though  it  is  occasionally  found 
in  the  wooded  regions  of  the  Catskill  range.  It  is  com- 
mon in  the  western  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
British  America. 

The  grizzly  bear  which  is  met  with  along  the  eastern 
borders  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  is  the-  largest  and 
most  formidable  of  the  bear  species,  surpassing  even 
the  polar  bear.  It  lives  wholly  on  flesh,  and  does  not 
hesitate  to  attack  man,  whenever  he  meets  him.  The 
encounters  of  travellers  with  this  dangerous  brute, 
have  furnished  us  with  many  thrilling  tales  of  peril. 
He  often  masters  the  bison,  and  one  has  been  known 
to  make  a  fierce  resistance,  after  eight  balls  had  passed 
through  his  body. 

To  the  Indians  of  the  west  and  north-west,  the  com- 
mon black  bear  is  an  object  of  great  interest,  and 
hunting  him  is  one  of  their  most  important  avocations. 
They  preface  their  expeditions  with  auguries,  dances, 
and  religious  ceremonies,  the  design  of  which  is  to 
propitiate  the  bear-spirit,  and  induce  him  to  give  them 
success  in  the  chase.  They  attack  the  animal  with 


BEAR    HUNTING.  115 

spears,  arrows  and  fire-arms,  and  often  take  him  In 
traps  and  pit-falls.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  resem- 
blance between  the  arts  of  our  savages  and  those  of 
Siberia,  in  pursuing  this  animal.^ 

The  British  fur  companies  of  the  north-west  col- 
lect great  numbers  of  furs  of  different  kinds,  some  of 
which  are  taken  by  their  own  hunters,  and  others  are 
collected  from,  or  brought  in  by,  the  Indians,  to  the 
trading  stations.  They  export  about  4000  bear  skins 
annually. 

The  Russian  settlers  of  the  north-west,  also  collect  a 
large  number  of  bear  skins  as  well  as  our  own  traders. 
The  whole  number  of  these  animals,  sacrificed  every 
year  to  the  appetite,  comfort  or  luxury  of  man,  amounts 
to  many  thousands.  It  is  one  of  the  curious  incidents  of 
trade,  that  the  unguent  which  shines  upon  the  soap 
locks  of  the  dandy  of  London,  Paris,  or  New  York,  is 
often  from  an  animal  which  had  its  birth  in  a  cavern 
of  Kamschatka  or  Siberia,  and  has  nearly  circumnavi- 
gated the  globe  to  fulfil  its  high  destiny  in  another 
quarter  of  the  world  ! 

*  For  numerous  anecdotes  of  hunting  the  bear,  see  "  Illus- 
trative Anecdotes  of  the  Animal  Kingdom."  J 


THE   FUR  TRADE. 


FURS  are  entirely  the  produce  of  nature,  and  as  they 
can  neither  be  cultivated  nor  increased,  their  value  is 
not  influenced  by  fashion  alone,  but  depends  mate- 
rially on  the  larger  or  smaller  supplies  obtained  by  the 
hunters.  The  weather  has  great  influence  on  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  furs  imported  from  all  quar- 
ters of  the  globe,  and  this  circumstance  renders  the  fur 
trade  more  precarious  perhaps  than  any  other.  The 
quality  and  consequently  the  price  of  many  furs  differ 
from  year  to  year,  sometimes  to  the  amount  of  300  per 
cent.  Those  which  are  important  objects  of  trade  may 
be  divided  into  three  classes.  The  first  class  may  be 


THE  FUR  TRADE.  117 

considered  as  comprising  articles  of  prime  necessity ; 
and  among  these  are  distinguished  an  immense  va- 
riety of  lamb-skins,  differing  so  widely  from  each  other 
in  size,  quality,  color,  and  value,  that  to  most  persons 
they  would  appear  as  the  produce  of  so  many  different 
species  of  animals.  These  lamb-skins  are  produced 
in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  are  everywhere  con- 
sumed, but  they  form  in  particular,  an  essential  part 
of  the  dress  of  thousands  among  the  lower  classes  in 
Russia,  Poland,  East  Prussia,  Hungary,  Bohemia  and 
Saxony.  In  Russia  and  other  cold  climates,  the  skins 
of  various  other  animals  may  be  considered  as  articles 
of  actual  necessity. 

The  second  class  forms,  in  a  measure,  part  of  the 
first,  as  it  also  comprises  furs  which  through  habit  and 
fashion,  have  now  become  articles  of  necessity.  Here 
may  be  enumerated  all  those  different  skins  commonly 
called  "  hatting  furs."  Few  persons  who  are  not 
acquainted  with  this  branch  of  the  fur  trade,  can  form 
an  idea  of  its  extent.  It  spreads,  of  course,  over  all 
parts  of  the  globe  where  hats  are  worn,  and  requires 
very  superior  judgment  and  considerable  capital  to 
conduct  it  successfully.  The  furs  now  used  for  hat- 
making  are  beaver,  musquash,  otter,  nutria,  hare  and 
rabbit.  Nutria  skins  are  comparatively  a  new  article. 
They  first  began  to  be  imported  into  England  in  large 
quantities  about  the  year  1810,  from  Spanish  America. 
Under  the  third  class  may  be  ranked  all  those  furs 
which,  though  continually  sold  and  used  in  immense 
quantities,  must  still  be  considered  mere  articles  of 
taste,  and  their  value  varies  according  to  the  whims 
and  fancies  of  different  nations.  There  are,  however, 


118  THE    FUR   TRADE. 

exceptions  among  them,  and  many  furs  may  be  re- 
garded as  standard  articles,  since  they  are  always  used, 
though  their  price  is  much  influenced  by  changes  of 
fashion.  This  class  comprises  an  almost  endless 
variety,  as  within  it  may  be  brought  the  skins  of 
most  animals  in  existence,  almost  all  of  them  occa- 
sionally appearing  in  the  fur  trade. 

The  countries  richest  in  furs  are  North  America 
and  Asiatic  Russia,  and  it  is  from  these  quarters  of 
the  globe  that  Europe  receives  its  supplies  of  peltry, 
as  the  skins  are  called  before  their  insides  are  softened 
and  converted  into  a  sort  of  leather.  But  many  other 
countries  produce  very  beautiful  and  useful  furs. 
Africa  and  Australia  afford  the  smallest  quantities,  and 
consume  still  less.  From  the  former  are  brought  only 
leopard  and  tiger  skins,  and  from  the  latter  those  of  the 
kangaroo,  which,  however,  are  never  used  properly  as 
fur,  being  chiefly  consumed  by  leather-dressers  and 
tanners  for  the  sake  of  the  pelt. 

Hatting  furs  are  used  throughout  America  and 
Europe,  except  in  Turkey  and  Greece.  The  principal 
consumption  of  furs  of  the  third  class,  or  those  used 
for  purposes  of  luxury  and  fashion,  is  in  China,  Turkey, 
Russia,  and  the  more  civilized  countries  of  Europe, 
particularly  England.  The  use  of  fur  in  America  is 
comparatively  small.  In  Africa  none  but  the  Egyp- 
tians wear  fur.  In  Austria  none  is  consumed.  It  is 
a  remarkable  feature  of  the  fur  trade,  that  almost  every 
country  or  town  which  produces  and  exports  furs,  im- 
ports and  consumes  the  furs  of  some  other  place,  fre- 
quently the  most  distant.  It  is  but  seldom  that  an 
article  is  consumed  in  the  country  where  it  is  pro- 


THF   FUR   TRADE.  119 

duced,  though  that  country  may  consume  foreign  furs 
to  a  great  extent.  China  is  one  of  the  best  mar- 
kets for  furs.  The  Americans  began,  with  their  char- 
acteristic activity,  to  send  furs  to  Canton  very  soon 
after  the  flag  of  the  United  States  first  appeared  in  the 
eastern  seas  in  1784,  and  the  trade  is  still  prosecuted 
by  them  to  a  considerable  extent. 

Besides  numerous  private  traders,  there  are  several 
fur  companies  of  very  long  standing,  which,  in  various 
countries,  transact  a  great  amount  of  business.  Among 
these  the  first  rank  may  be  assigned  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  in  London,  not  only  on  account  of  the 
extent  of  its  business,  but  because  it  is  one  of  the 
oldest  chartered  companies  in  England.  The  Ameri- 
can Fur  Company,  in  New  York,  stands  next :  they 
trade  chiefly  to  London.  The  third  is  the  Russian 
American  Company,  in  Moscow;  these  trade  to  the  Rus- 
sian territories  on  the  north-western  coast  of  America, 
whence  they  draw  their  supplies,  which  are  consumed 
chiefly  in  Russia.  The  fourth  company  of  any  con- 
sequence is  the  Danish  Greenland  Company  in  Copen- 
hagen ;  they  do  but  a  very  limited  business,  exposing 
their  goods  for  sale  once  a  year  at  Copenhagen. 

The  fur  trade  of  North  America  was  first  practised 
by  the  early  French  settlers  at  Quebec  and  Montreal, 
and  consisted  then,  as  now,  in  bartering  fire-arms, 
ammunition,  cloth,  spirits,  and  other  articles  in  demand 
among  the  Indians,  for  beaver  and  other  skins.  In 
1670,  Charles  II.  established  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, to  which  he  assigned  the  extensive  privilege  of 
trading  with  the  Indians  in  and  about  the  vast  inlet 
known  by  the  name  of  Hudson's  Bay.  The  company 


120  THE    FUR   TRADE. 

founded  establishments  at  Forts  Churchill  and  Albany, 
Nelson's  River  and  other  places  on  the  west  coast  of 
the  bay.  But  the  trade  they  carried  on,  though  a 
very  profitable  one,  was  said  to  be  of  limited  ex- 
tent, and  their  conduct  on  various  occasions  shows 
how  strongly  they  were  possessed  with  that  spirit  of 
jealousy  which  prevails  in  all  societies  of  men  endowed 
with  peculiar  privileges.  This  company's  charter  was 
never  confirmed  by  act  of  parliament,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, their  claim  to  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  rested 
upon  no  legal  foundation,  yet,  by  means  of  the  supe- 
rior advantages  enjoyed  by  them,  the  business  remained 
exclusively  in  their  hands. 

In  1783  the  principal  traders  engaged  in  the  fur 
trade  of  Canada  formed  themselves  into  an  association 
called  the  Northwest  Company,  and  established  their 
head  quarters  at  Montreal.  This  new  company  pro- 
secuted the  trade  with  great  enterprise  and  considera- 
ble success.  Mackenzie  informs  us  that  some  of  the 
persons  engaged  in  it  are  employed  at  the  distance  of 
four  thousand  miles  westward  of  Montreal.  A  very 
large  caravan  sets  out  every  year  from  Montreal  for 
the  Grand  Portage,  on  Lake  Superior,  where  they 
meet  those  who  have  wintered  in  the  remote  establish- 
ments in  the  west,  from  whom  they  receive  the  furs 
collected  in  the  course  of  the  season,  and  whom  they, 
at  the  same  time,  furnish  with  fresh  supplies  of  the 
various  articles  required  in  the  trade.  Fort  Chepywan, 
on  the  Lake  of  the  Hills,  was  formerly  one  of  the  most 
distant  stations  of  the  Northwest  Company,  but  many 
of  the  Indians  who  traded  with  the  fort  came  even 
from  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains. 


THE    FUR    TRADE,  121 

The  competition  and  success  of  the  Northwest 
Company  seem  to  have  roused  the  dormant  energies 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company ;  and  the  conflicting 
interests  and  pretensions  of  the  rival  associations  led 
to  serious  troubles.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  Earl 
of  Selkirk,  who  was  for  a  considerable  period  at  the 
head  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  a  colony  was 
founded  on  Red  River,  which  runs  into  Lake  Win- 
nipeg. The  Northwest  Company  regarded  this  as 
an  encroachment  upon  their  own  rights,  and  the  ani- 
mosities which  followed  led  to  the  most  violent  pro- 
ceedings on  the  part  of  the  servants  of  both  compa- 
nies. At  last,  being  wearied  and  impoverished  by 
their  dissensions,  they  united  under  the  name  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Fur  Company,  which  at  present  en- 
grosses most  of  the  fur  trade  of  British  America. 

The  beaver  formerly  inhabited  almost  every  part  of 
the  territory  comprised  in  the  limits  of  the  United 
States ;  but  within  comparatively  a  few  years  this 
animal  has  been  exterminated  in  all  the  Atlantic  and 
Western  States,  as  far  as  the  middle  and  upper  waters 
of  the  Missouri.  In  the  Hudson's  Bay  territory  the 
beavers  are  rapidly  becoming  scarce,  and  the  whole 
race  will  eventually  be  extinguished  throughout  the 
entire  continent.  The  Indians  inhabiting  the  coun- 
tries watered  by  the  tributaries  of  the  Missouri  and 
Mississippi,  take  the  beavers  principally  by  trapping, 
and  are  generally  supplied  with  steel  traps  by  the 
traders,  who  do  not  sell  them,  but  let  them  out,  in 
order  to  keep  the  Indians  dependent  on  themselves, 
and  also  to  lay  claim  to  the  furs  which  they  may  pro- 
cure. The  name  of  the  trader  being  stamped  on  the 

XVIII. 11 


122  THE    FUR   TRADE. 

trap,  it  is  equal  to  a  certificate  of  enlistment,  and  indi- 
cates, when  an  Indian  carries  his  furs  to  another 
trading  establishment,  that  the  individual  wishes  to 
avoid  the  payment  of  his  debts.  The  business  of 
trapping,  which  takes  place  in  winter,  requires  great 
experience  and  caution,  as  the  senses  of  the  beaver  are 
very  keen,  and  enable  him  to  detect  the  recent  presence 
of  the  hunter  by  the  slightest  traces.  It  is  necessary 
that  the  hands  should  be  washed  clean  before  the  trap 
is  handled  and  baited,  and  that  every  precaution  should 
be  employed  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  animal. 

The  beavers  swim  to  a  considerable  distance  under 
water,  but  cannot  remain  for  a  long  time  without 
coming  to  the  surface  for  air.  They  are  therefore 
caught  with  greater  ease,  as  they  must  either  take 
refuge  in  their  vaults  or  washes  in  the  banks,  or  seek 
their  huts  again  to  get  breath.  When  disturbed, 
they  usually  fly  from  their  huts  to  these  vaults,  which, 
though  not  so  much  exposed  to  observation  as  their 
houses,  are  yet  discovered  with  sufficient  ease,  and 
allow  the  occupant  to  be  more  readily  captured  than 
if  he  had  remained  in  his  ordinary  habitation.  To 
capture  beaver  residing  on  a  small  river  or  creek,  the 
Indians  find  it  necessary  to  stake  the  stream  across  to 
prevent  them  from  escaping,  and  then  to  ascertain 
where  the  vaults  or  washes  in  the  banks  are  situated. 
This  can  be  done  only  by  those  who  are  experienced 
in  such  explorations,  and  is  thus  performed.  The 
hunter  is  furnished  with  an  ice-chisel  lashed  to  a 
handle  four  or  five  feet  in  length.  With  this  instru- 
ment he  strikes  against  the  ice  as  he  goes  along  the 
edge  of  the  banks.  The  sound  produced  by  the  blow 


THE    FUR    TRADE.  123 

informs  him  when  he  is  opposite  one  of  the  vaults. 
When  one  is  discovered,  a  hole  is  cut  through  the  ice 
of  sufficient  size  to  admit  a  full-grown  beaver,  and  the 
search  is  continued  until  as  many  of  the  places  of 
retreat  are  discovered  as  possible.  During  the  time 
the  most  expert  hunters  are  thus  occupied,  the  others, 
with  the  women,  are  busy  in  breaking  into  the  beaver 
houses.  The  animals,  alarmed  at  the  invasion  of  their 
dwelling,  take  to  the  water  and  swim  with  surprising 
swiftness  to  their  retreats  in  the  banks;  but  their 
entrance  is  betrayed  to  the  hunters  watching  the  holes 
in  the  ice,  by  the  motion  and  discoloration  of  the 
water.  The  entrance  is  instantly  closed  with  stakes 
of  wood,  and  the  beaver,  instead  of  finding  shelter  in 
his  cave,  is  captured.  The  hunter  pulls  the  animal 
out,  if  within  reach,  with  his  hand,  or  by  a  hook  with 
a  long  handle.  Beaver-houses  in  lakes  or  other 
standing  waters  offer  an  easier  prey  to  the  hunters, 
as  there  is  no  necessity  for  staking  the  water  across. 

Among  the  Hudson's  Bay  Indians,  every  hunter 
has  the  exclusive  right  to  all  the  beavers  caught  in 
the  washes  discovered  by  him.  Each  individual,  on 
finding  one,  places  some  mark,  as  a  pole,  or  the  branch 
of  a  tree  stuck  up,  in  order  to  know  his  own.  Bea- 
vers caught  in  any  house  are  also  the  property  of  the 
discoverer,  who  takes  care  to  mark  his  claim,  as  in  the 
.  case  of  the  washes. 

Beside  beavers,  there  are  a  great  number  of  other 
fur-bearing  animals  caught  by  the  hunters  of  North 
America,  as  the  following  table  of  the  skins  exported 
from  the  British  settlements  alone,  in  the  year  1831, 
will  show. 


124  THE    FUR    TRADE. 


No.  of  skins.  No.  of  skina. 


Racoon,  ....  325 
Weasel,  ....  34 
Wolvereen,  .  .  1,744 
Wolf,  ....  5,947 
Mink,  ....  9,298 


Beaver,  .     .     .      126,944 
Bear,      ....     3,850 

Deer, 645 

Fox, 8,765 

Lynx,     ....  58,010 
Musk-rat,    .     .      375,731 

There  are  a  considerable  number  also  exported,  not 
included  in  the  above  statement.  The  annual  value 
of  all  the  furs  exported  from  British  America,  is  esti- 
mated at  ten  millions  of  dollars,  which  is,  probably, 
not  more  than  half  the  value  of  all  the  furs,  produced 
by  North  America,  each  year. 

As  the  most  valuable  furs  are  taken  in  the  coldest 
regions,  many  of  the  hunters  experience  the  greatest 
hardships  in  pursuing  animals  in  high  latitudes.  In 
Siberia,  especially,  the  adventurers  seek  the  sable  and 
marten,  even  within  the  Arctic  Circle,  and  nothing 
can  exceed  the  dreariness  of  the  life  they  lead  in  these 
chill  and  solitary  realms.  Some  of  them  are  sent 
thither  by  the  government,  who  exact  from  the  unhappy 
exiles,  the  stipulated  supply  with  the  most  rigorous 
severity. 


BIRD  CATCHING. 


THE  Orkney  and  Shetland  Islands,  and  the  Heb- 
rides exhibit  the  most  striking  instances  of  adventur- 
ous daring  in  this  pursuit.  It  is  a  common  employ- 
ment in  some  of  these  islands  to  gather  among  the 
crags  the  eggs  of  the  sea-fowl,  and  to  catch  the  birds 
themselves.  Compared  with  this,  the  part  of  him 
who  "  gathers  samphire"  on  the  cliffs  of  Dover,  is  one 
of  safety  and  pleasure.  The  sea-fowl  make  their 
resort  in  the  cavities  of  lofty  and  beetling  cliffs  of  the 
rocky  shores ;  and  the  natives,  by  means  of  a  rope 
11* 


126  BIRD    CATCHING. 

round  the  body,  let  themselves  down  over  precipices 
sometimes  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  height,  the  sight  of 
which  would  disorder  a  man  of  common  nerves.  Yet 
the  fowler,  with  a  line  of  many  fathoms  held  by  sev- 
eral companions  above,  descends,  and,  disengaging 
himself  from  the  rope,  enters  cavities  in  the  rock 
higher  than  the  arch  of  any  Gothic  church.  In  this 
dangerous  labor  many  persons  perish  from  falling 
stones  and  other  causes.  It  is  recorded  that  one  of 
these  adventurers  discovered  that  the  rope  by  which 
he  was  suspended  was  so  much  chafed  by  the  edge 
of  the  rock,  that  he  hung  by  a  single  strand.  He 
could  not  give  immediate  signals  to  his  comrades, 
and  when  he  was  drawn  up,  it  was  found  that  the 
extremity  of  his  terror  had  been  such  as  to  blanch  his 
hair.  From  the  tops  of  these  dizzy  precipices,  the 
mountainous  waves  breaking  below  seem  like  ripples, 
and  the  roar  can  hardly  be  heard. 

It  is  chiefly  on  the  most  rugged  shores  of  Scotland, 
or  on  the  more  craggy  rocks  of  the  adjacent  islands, 
that  bird  catching  is  carried  on  in  the  perfection 
of  its  horrors.  St.  Kilda,  a  small  island  in  the  midst 
of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  contains  a  few  people  who,  from 
infancy  accustomed  to  precipices,  drop  from  crag  to 
•crag  as  fearlessly  as  the  birds  themselves.  Their 
great  dependence  is  upon  ropes  of  two  sorts — one 
made  of  hides ;  the  other  of  hair  of  cows'  tails,  all  of 
the  same  thickness.  These  are  of  various  lengths, 
from  ninety  to  two  hundred  feet,  and  three  inches 
in  circumference.  So  valuable  are  these  ropes,  that 
one  of  them  forms  the  marriage  portion  of  a  St.  Kilda 
girl. 


BIRD    CATCHING.  127 

The  favorite  resort  of  sea-fowl,  particularly  the  oily 
fulmars,  is  a  tremendous  precipice,  about  thirteen 
hundred  feet  high,  formed  by  the  abrupt  termination 
of  a  hill  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  loftiest  precipi- 
tous face  of  rock  in  Britain.  The  brink  is  wet  and 
slippery,  and  yet  upon  this  treacherous  surface  the 
St.  Kilda  people  sit  upon  the  extremest  verge ;  the 
youngest  of  them  even  creeping  down  a  little  way 
from  the  top  after  eggs  or  birds,  which  they  take  in 
great  numbers. 

But  these  pranks  of  the  young  are  nothing,  when 
compared  to  the  fearful  feats  of  the  older  and  more  ex- 
perienced practitioners.  Several  ropes  are  first  tied  to- 
gether to  increase  the  depth  of  the  descent ;  one  extrem- 
ity of  these  ropes  is  fastened  around  the  waist  of  the 
bird  catcher,  the  other  extremity  is  then  lowered  down 
the  precipice  by  the  adventurer  himself,  then  giving  the 
middle  of  the  rope  to  a  single  man,  he  descends, 
always  holding  by  one  part  of  the  rope  as  he  lets 
himself  down,  and  supported  only  by  the  man  above, 
who  holds  the  rope  in  his  hands,  sometimes  support- 
ing his  companion  by  one  hand  alone,  looking  at 
the  same  time  over  the  precipice,  without  any  stay  for 
his  feet,  and  conversing  with  the  other,  as  he  descends 
nearly  four  hundred  feet. 

Accidents  are  said  to  be  of  rare  occurrence,  though 
of  course  they  do  occasionally  happen ;  but  escapes 
sufficiently  appalling  to  make  the  blood  run  cold  to 
hear  of,  are  often  related. 

Among  other  modes  of  catching  sea-fowl  at  St. 
Kilda,  that  of  setting  gins  and  nooses  is  adopted.  In 
one  of  these,  set  upon  a  ledge  a  hundred  and  twenty 


128  BIRD    CATCHING. 

feet  above  the  sea,  a  bird  catcher  entangled  his  foot, 
anl  not  being  at  the  moment  aware  of  it,  was,  on 
moving  onward,  tripped  up  and  precipitated  over  the 
rock,  where  he  hung  suspended.  He  had  no  com- 
panion, and  to  add  to  his  misfortune,  darkness  was  at 
hand,  leaving  little  prospect  of  his  being  discovered 
till  morning.  In  vain  he  exerted  himself  to  bend  up- 
wards so  as  to  reach  the  noose,  or  grapple  the  rock. 
After  a  few  fruitless  efforts,  his  strength  was  exhaust- 
ed, and  in  this  dreadful  situation,  expecting,  moreover, 
that  the  noose  might  give  way  every  instant,  he 
passed  a  long  night.  At  early  dawn  by  good  fortune, 
his  shouts  were  heard  by  a  neighbor,  who  rescued 
him  from  his  perilous  situation. 

Another  incident  of  this  kind  terminated  in  a  more 
awful  manner.  A  father  and  two  sons  were  out  to- 
gether, and  having  firmly  attached  their  rope  to  the 
summit  of  a  precipice,  descended  on  their  usual  occu- 
pation. Having  collected  as  many  birds  and  eggs  as 
they  could  carry,  they  were  all  three  ascending  by 
the  rope,  the  eldest  of  the  sons  first, — his  brother  a 
fathom  or  two  below  him,  and  the  father  following 
last.  They  had  made  considerable  progress,  when 
the  elder  son  looking  upwards,  perceived  the  strands  of 
the  rope  grinding  against  a  sharp  edge  of  rock,  and 
gradually  giving  way.  He  immediately  reported  the 
alarming  fact.  "  Will  it  hold  together  till  we  can 
reach  the  summit  ?  "  asked  the  father.  "  It  will  not  hold 
another  minute,"  was  the  reply,  "  our  triple  weight  is 
loosening  it  rapidly  !  "  "  Will  it  hold  one  ?  "  said  the 
father.  "  It  is  as  much  as  it  can  do,"  replied  the 
son ;  "  even 'that  is  but  doubtful."  "  There  is  then  a 


BIRD    CATCHING.  129 

chance  of  at  least  one  of  us  being  saved ;  draw  your 
knife  and  cut  away  below !  "  was  the  cool  and  intrepid 
order  of  the  parent; — "exert  yourself;  you  may  yet 
escape  and  live  to  comfort  your  mother ! "  There 
was  no  time  for  discussion  or  for  hesitation.  The  son 
looked  up  once  more,  but  the  edge  of  the  rock  had 
nearly  severed  the  rope.  The  knife  was  drawn, — the 
rope  was  divided, — and  the  father  and  brother  were 
launched  into  eternity ! " 

No  species  of  the  feathered  race  offers  the  fowler 
so  abundant  a  prey  as  the  Wild  Pigeon  of  North 
America.  The  associated  numbers  of  these  birds, 
and  the  numerous  flocks  which  compose  the  gen- 
eral swarm,  are  without  a  parallel  in  the  world.  They 
can  be  compared  only  to  the  finny  schools  of  herrings 
which,  descending  from  the  Arctic  regions,  spread 
over  the  ocean  to  the  extent  of  mighty  kingdoms. 
However  incredible  such  immense  numbers  may  seem, 
yet  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  pigeons  are  habitually  associated  in  feeding, 
roosting  and  breeding,  without  any  regard  to  climate 
or  season.  The  approach  of  this  mighty  feathered 
army  with  a  loud  rushing  roar  and  a  stirring  breeze, 
attended  by  a  sudden  darkness,  might  be  mistaken  for 
a  fearful  tornado  about  to  overwhelm  the  face  of  na- 
ture. For  several  hours  together,  the  vast  host  ex- 
tending some  miles  in  width,  continues  to  pass  in 
flocks  without  diminution.  The  whole  air  is  filled 
with  them,  and  they  shut  out  the  light  as  if  the  sun 
was  eclipsed.  At  the  approach  of  evening  they 
depart  in  a  body  for  the  general  roost,  which  is  often 
hundreds  of  miles  from  their  feeding  places,  and  is 


130  BIRD   CATCHING. 

generally  selected  in  the  tallest  and  thickest  forest 
almost  entirely  divested  of  underwood.  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  waste  and  desolation  of  these  nocturnal 
resorts.  The  tall  trees  for  thousands  of  acres,  are 
completely  killed,  and  the  ground  is  strewed  with 
massy  branches  torn  down  by  the  clustering  weight 
of  the  birds  which  have  rested  upon  them.  The 
whole  region  for  several  years  afterwards  presents  a 
scene  of  devastation,  as  if  the  earth  had  been  swept  by 
the  blast  of  a  destructive  whirlwind. 

In  the  Atlantic  States,  although  they  never  appear 
in  such  enormous  multitudes,  yet  they  are  sometimes 
very  numerous ;  and  great  havoc  is  made  among  them 
with  the  gun,  the  clap-net,  and  other  implements  of 
destruction.  As  soon  as  it  is  ascertained  in  a  town, 
that  the  pigeons  are  in  the  neighborhood,  the  gunners 
turn  out ;  the  clap-net  is  spread  out  in  a  suitable  place 
with  decoys,  and  a  small  hut  of  branches  is  fitted  up  for 
the  fowler  at  the  distance  of  forty  or  fifty  yards ;  the 
pigeons,  attracted  by  the  decoy,  descend  with  great 
rapidity,  and  finding  corn,  buck  wheat,  &c.,  strewed 
about,  begin  to  feed,  and  are  instantly,  by  the  pulling 
of  a  cord,  covered  with  the  net.  In  this  manner,  ten, 
twenty,  and  even  thirty  dozen  have  been  caught  at  a 
time.  In  the  mean  while  the  air  is  darkened  with 
large  bodies  of  them  moving  in  various  directions  ;  the 
woods  also  swarm  with  them  in  search  of  acorns,  and 
the  report  of  musketry  is  heard  on  all  sides  from 
morning  till  night.  Wagon  loads  of  pigeons  are 
poured  into  the  markets,  where  they  have  been  sold 
as  low  as  a  cent  a  piece. 

In  the  Western  States  where  they  are  most  abun- 


BIRD   CATCHING.  131 

dant,  an  immense  number  of  young  pigeons  are 
taken  at  the  breeding  places.  As  soon  as  they  are 
fully  grown,  the  neighboring  inhabitants  assemble  and 
encamp  for  several  days  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
spot,  with  wagons,  axes,  and  cooking  utensils.  The 
perpetual  tumult  of  the  birds,  the  crowding  and  flat- 
tering multitudes,  the  thundering  roar  of  their  wings, 
the  crash  of  falling  trees  from  which  the  young  are 
precipitated  by  the  axe,  all  combine  to  produce  a 
scene  of  indescribable  and  almost  terrific  confusion. 
It  is  dangerous  to  walk  beneath  these  clustering 
crowds  of  birds,  from  the  frequent  descent  of  large 
branches  broken  down  by  the  congregating  thousands. 
The  horses  start  at  the  noise,  and  conversation  can 
only  be  heard  in  a  shout.  The  young  pigeons  are 
extremely  fat,  and,  as  well  as  the  old  birds  killed  at 
the  roosts,  are  often  with  a  wanton  prodigality  and 
prodigious  slaughter,  strewed  on  the  ground  as  food 
for  the  swine.  Guns,  clubs,  long  poles,  pots  of  burn- 
ing sulphur,  &c.,  are  employed  for  the  destruction 
of  the  swarming  host. 

The  bird's-nest  trade  of  the  East,  is  deserving 
of  notice.  The  nest  in  question,  is  that  of  a  species 
of  swallow  peculiar  to  the  East  India  islands.  In 
shape  it  resembles  that  of  a  common  swallow,  but 
is  composed  of  a  viscid  substance  resembling  in  ex- 
ternal appearance  and  consistence,  fibrous,  ill-concocted 
isinglass.  The  exact  nature  of  this  material,  as  well  as 
its  origin,  are  unknown,  some  persons  affirming  that  it 
is  formed  of  the  foam  of  the  sea,  or  other  marine  pro- 
ducts, and  some  that  it  is  elaborated  from  the  food  of  the 
bird.  The  best  nests  are  found  in  deep,  damp  caves,  and 


132  BIRD    CATCHING. 

are  taken  before  the  birds  have  laid  their  eggs.  The 
coarsest  are  those  obtained  after  the  young  are  fledged ; 
the  test  of  excellence  is  the  whiteness  of  the  article. 
They  are  taken  twice  a  year,  and  if  regularly  col- 
lected, and  no  unusual  injury  be  offered  to  the  cav- 
erns, the  crop  of  nests  will  not  suffer  any  diminution 
from  year  to  year ;  nor  will  the  quantity  increase  by 
the  caverns  being  left  unmolested  for  a  year  or  two. 
Some  of  the  caves  are  extremely  difficult  of  access, 
and  the  nests  can  only  be  collected  by  persons  accus- 
tomed from  their  youth  to  the  business.  The  most 
remarkable  and  productive  caves  in  the  island  of  Java, 
are  those  of  Karang  Bolang,  in  the  province  of  Boglen, 
on  the  south  coast  of  the  island.  Here  the  caves  can 
only  be  approached  by  a  perpendicular  descent  of 
many  hundred  feet  with  ladders  of  bamboo  and  ratan, 
over  a  sea  rolling  violently  against  the  rocks.  When 
the  mouth  of  the  cavern  is  reached,  the  perilous  office 
of  taking  the  nests  must  often  be  performed  by  torch- 
light, penetrating  into  recesses  of  the  rock,  where 
the  slightest  trip  would  be  instantly  fatal  to  the  adven- 
turers, who  see  nothing  below  them  but  the  furious 
surf  washing  its  way  into  the  chasms  of  the  rock. 

These  nests  are  most  extravagantly  esteemed  by  the 
Chinese  as  an  article  of  luxury.  The  best  kinds  are 
sold  for  thirty  dollars  a  pound.  On  account  of  their 
high  price,  they  are  of  course  consumed  only  by  the 
rich,  and  indeed  the  best  part  is  sent  to  Pekin  for  the 
use  of  the  court.  They  are  used  principally  in  soups, 
and  are  believed  by  the  Chinese  to  be  highly  stimulating 
and  tonic ;  but  it  is  thought  by  others  that  their  most 
valuable  quality  consists  in  their  being  perfectly  harm- 


BIRD    CATCHING.  133 

less.  The  people  of  Japan,  who  so  much  resemble 
the  Chinese  in  many  of  their  habits,  have  no  taste  for 
this  luxury ;  and  how  the  latter  acquired  their  predi- 
lection for  this  foreign  commodity,  is  no  less  difficult 
to  account  for  than  the  fact  of  their  persevering  in  the 
use  of  it.  Among  the  western  nations,  there  is  no 
parallel  to  this  gastronomic  whim,  unless  it  be  the  ex- 
travagant estimation  in  which  the  Komans  held  some 
articles  of  luxury,  remarkable  for  nothing  but  their 
scarcity  and  high  price. 

The  only  preparation  which  the  bird's-nests  undergo 
is  that  of  simple  drying  without  direct  exposure  to 
the  sun;  after  which  they  are  assorted  into  three 
kinds  for  the  Chinese  market,  and  packed  in  boxes. 
A  year's  produce  is  estimated  at  nearly  a  million  and 
a  half  of  dollars.  This  income  rests,  as  we  have 
seen,  upon  the  capricious  wants  of  a  single  people. 
The  places  producing  the  nests  are  claimed  as  the 
exclusive  property  of  the  sovereign  of  the  island 
or  territory,  where  thy  are  found,  and  always  form 
a  valuable  branch  of  his  resources,  or  of  the  rev- 
enue of  the  state.  This  value  however  is  not  equal 
in  all  cases,  and  depends  upon  the  situation  and 
the  circumstances  connected  with  the  caverns  in 
which  the  nests  are  found.  Being  often  in  remote 
and  sequestered  spots  in  a  country  so  lawless,  a  pro- 
perty so  valuable  and  exposed,  is  subject  to  the  depre- 
dations of  freebooters,  and  it  not  unfrequently  happens 
that  an  attack  upon  it  is  a  principal  object  of  the  war- 
fare committed  by  one  petty  state  against  another. 
In  such  situations  the  expense  of  affording  protection 
is  so  heavy,  that  the  estates  are  necessarily  of  little 
xviii.— 12 


134  BIRD    CATCHING. 

value.  In  situations  where  the  caverns  are  difficult 
of  access  to  strangers,  and  where  there  prevails  enough 
of  order  and  tranquillity  to  secure  them  from  internal 
depredation,  and  to  admit  of  the  nests  being  obtained 
with  no  other  expense,  than  the  simple  labor  of  collect- 
ing them,  the  value  of  the  property  is  very  great.  The 
caverns  of  Karang  Bolang,  in  Java,  are  of  this  de- 
scription. These  afford  annually  6,810  pounds  of 
nests,  which  are  worth,  at  the  Batavia  prices,  nearly 
139,000  dollars,  and  the  whole  expense  of  collecting, 
curing  and  packing,  is  no  more  than  11  per  cent  on 
this  amount.  The  price  of  the  nests  is  of  course  a 
monopoly  price,  the  quantity  produced  being  limited 
by  nature  and  incapable  of  augmentation.  There  is 
perhaps  no  article  upon  which  human  industry  is  ex- 
erted, of  which  the  cost  of  production  bears  so  small 
a  proportion  to  the  market  price. 


COMMERCE  AND   NAVIGATION 


THE  advantage  of  an  interchange  of  commodities, 
one  person  supplying  what  was  needed  by  another, 
must  have  been  obvious  in  the  earliest  stages  of 
society.  Such  interchange  must  have  been,  however, 
on  a  very  insignificant  scale  among  tribes  living  in  a 
state  of  hunters,  and  seeking  their  subsistence,  not 
from  domesticated  animals,  but  from  the  precarious 
spoils  of  the  forest.  Such  appears  from  Scripture  to 
have  been  the  state  of  the  central  part  of  Asia,  in  the 


136  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

ages  following  the  flood.  It  was  the  condition,  also, 
of  the  aboriginal  Greeks,  before  Cadmus  and  other  for- 
eigners, arriving  from  the  east,  brought  among  them  a 
knowledge  of  the  useful  arts ;  and  it  was  the  state  of 
the  greater  part  of  England,  on  the  first  invasion  of  the 
Romans.  Such,  at  the  present  day,  is  the  condition 
of  the  Indians  of  North  America,  who  roam  over  the 
vast  tracts  west  and  north-west  of  the  Mississippi, 
obtaining  by  the  chase,  quantities  of  furs  to  exchange 
with  English  and  American  traders,  but  in  other 
respects,  living  in  great  penury,  and  having  few  com- 
modities to  barter  with  each  other. 

In  the  next  stage  in  the  progress  of  society,  the  pas- 
toral state  accompanied  with  a  little  tillage,  the  inter- 
change of  commodities  is  still  on  a  very  limited  scale. 
This  is  succeeded  by  the  agricultural  state,  in  which 
individuals  and  families  collect  in  hamlets,  villages, 
and  finally  in  towns.  Employment  then  becomes 
divided ;  people  follow  separate  trades,  and  the  pro- 
ducts or  workmanship  of  one  are  exchanged  for  those 
of  another.  Intercourse  then  assumes  such  a  shape 
and  magnitude,  as  to  be  entitled  to  the  name  of  com- 
merce. If  it  be  asked  in  what  parts  of  the  world  was 
the  exchange  of  commodities  first  carried  on  to  any 
considerable  extent,  we  answer,  in  Mesopotamia, 
Egypt,  and  the  more  fertile  provinces  of  the  north  of 
Arabia.  For  this,  we  have  the  direct  authority  of 
Scripture,  as  well  as  the  indirect  but  powerful  evi- 
dence afforded  by  the  local  advantages  of  certain  tracts 
of  country,  such  as  those  adjacent  to  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Nile.  In- warm  climates,  the  great  desideratum  in 
cultivation  is  a  supply  of  water ;  and  population  first 


COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION.  137 

becomes  dense  in  districts  which  possess  such  a  supply 
in  abundance,  whether  from  rivers  periodically  over- 
flowing their  banks,  from  streams  descending  from 
high  grounds,  or  from  a  soil  yielding  water  in  wells  at 
a  slight  depth  from  the  surface.  Now  civilization  and 
commercial  intercourse  depend  on,  or  rather  arise 
from,  density  of  population.  It  is  to  this  we  should 
ascribe  the  early  improvement  of  Egypt.  To  a  simi- 
lar cause,  that  is,  to  the  dense  population  in  Chaldea, 
caused  by  the  fertilization  of  the  soil  from  the  over- 
flowing of  the  Euphrates,  we  are  to  attribute  the 
grandeur  of  Babylon,  and  the  power  of  the  Assyrian 
Empire. 

Almost  all  trade  in  those  ages,  was  carried  on  by 
land ;  and  as  there  were  neither  roads  for  wheel-car- 
riages, nor  bridges  over  rivers,  merchandise  was  trans- 
ported on  the  backs  of  camels  and  other  beasts  of  bur- 
then. Traders  proceeded,  generally,  in  companies,  for 
the  sake  of  mutual  aid  and  protection,  exactly  as  is 
practised  now,  and  on  a  larger  scale,  by  caravans. 
The  earliest  attempts  to  convey  commodities  by  water, 
Were  made  on  rivers  and  inlets  of  the  sea,  by  canoes 
and  rafts.  Between  these,  the  simple  contrivances  of 
a  rude  age,  and  the  bark  fitted  to  venture  on  the  sea 
and  encounter  the  winds  and  waves,  the  difference  is 
very  great.  Ship-building  and  navigation  are  compli- 
cated arts,  requiring  both  mechanical  dexterity  and  a 
stock  of  knowledge  which  can  exist  only  in  a  society 
considerably  improved.  Hence,  commercial  inter- 
course by  sea  is  long  in  beginning,  and  for  a  time  is 
practised  on  a  very  narrow  scale.  With  the  nations 
of  antiquity,  slowness  was  unavoidable,  unacquainted 
12* 


138  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

as  they  were  with  the  mariner's  compass,  and  limited 
in  their  knowledge  of  geography.  One  of  the  earliest 
branches  of  navigation  was  that  of  the  Red  Sea,  on 
which  commodities  were  transported  from  Arabia  to 
Cosseir,  the  out-port  of  Thebes  in  Upper  Egypt. 
This  merchandize  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  pro- 
duce of  India,  imported  in  the  first  instance  into  Ara- 
bia. The  traffic  appears  to  have  been  considerable,  and 
was  one  cause  of  the  great  population  of  Thebes.  But 
the  foreign  commerce  of  Egypt  was  surpassed  by  that 
of  the  Phenicians,  who  were  altogether  commercial  in 
their  habits  and  laws.  Sidon,  the  first  great  seaport 
mentioned  in  history,  was  only  150  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Nile,  and  the  foreign  trade  of  Egypt  was 
carried  on  by  Phenician  mariners,  first  of  Sidon  and 
afterwards  of  Tyre.  Confined  at  first  to  the  adjacent 
countries,  namely,  Egypt,  Cyprus  and  Cilicia,  the 
Phenician  navigators  ventured  in  the  course  of  time, 
to  take  a  wider  range,  visiting  and  planting  colonies  in 
Crete,  Greece,  Libya  and  Sicily.  In  all  these  coun- 
tries the  inhabitants  were  uncivilized,  and  were 
indebted  to  the  Phenicians  for  the  rudiments  of 
knowledge,  and  the  introduction  of  the  useful  arts. 

The  next  country  entitled  to  notice  with  respect  to 
commerce,  is  Judea.  The  Jews  progressively  in- 
creased in  numbers  during  the  same  centuries  which 
elapsed  between  their  settling  in  Egypt,  and  the  era 
of  their  greatest  prosperity,  the  reigns  of  David  and 
Solomon.  The  distant  seaports  at  which  they  traded, 
Ophir  and  Tarshish,  have  not  been  recognised  with 
positive  certainty  by  modern  geographers.  Their 
foreign  commerce  seems  to  have  been  discontinued  after 


COMMERCE    AND    NAVIGATION.  139 

the  dismemberment  of  the  kingdom  which  followed 
the  reign  of  Solomon.  From  Phenicia  and  Egypt, 
civilization  and  commerce  made  their  way  to  a  quarter 
destined  to  become  a  copious  fountain  of  instruction  to 
the  rest  of  the  world.  The  early  access  to  Greece 
from  the  comparatively  improved  countries  in  the 
south  and  east,  was  a  most  fortunate  circumstance. 
No  country  is  better  situated  for  carrying  on  inter- 
course by  navigation,  and  the  Greeks  were  early 
addicted  to  this  branch  of  enterprise.  Their  vessels 
were  without  decks,  generally  propelled  by  oars,  and 
having  only  one  mast,  which  was  raised  or  taken 
down  according  to  circumstances.  Such  was  the 
Greek  navy  in  the  time  of  Homer,  and  during  the 
three  centuries  which  elapsed  between  the  age  of  that 
poet  and  the  national  improvement  which  preceded  the 
invasion  of  Greece  by  the  Persians.  Still,  the  navi- 
gation and  commerce  of  Greece  were  very  limited, 
even  in  her  most  prosperous  times.  They  took  place 
chiefly  between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies 
planted  in  Italy  and  Sicily  to  the  west,  in  Ionia  in  the 
east,  and  in  Thrace  in  the  north.  The  more  distant 
voyages  of  the  Greek  traders,  were  south  to  Egypt, 
north  to  Trebizond  on  the  Euxine,  and  to  the  coast  of 
the  Adriatic.  Westward,  they  hardly  ever  ventured 
beyond  Sicily,  leaving  the  maritime  intercourse  with 
Spain,  Sardinia  and  the  south  of  Gaul  to  naviga- 
tors of  a  bolder  character,  the  Carthaginians.^ 

The  extensive  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great 

*  For  an  account  of  the  maritime  enterprises  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians, see  "Lights  and  Shadows  of  African  History." 


140  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

gave  rise  to  new  arrangements  in  regard  to  the  trade 
of  Greece  with  Egypt  and  India.  The  obstinate 
resistance  made  to  his  arms  by  Tyre,  impressed  him 
strongly  with  the  resources  of  a  maritime  state,  and  as 
he  ascribed  the  chief  part  of  the  wealth  and  power  of 
Tyre  to  its  trade  with  India,  it  was  natural  that  after 
destroying  that  city,  he  should  seek  to  establish  a 
naval  station  in  a  position  adapted  for  carrying  on  both 
that  and  other  branches  of  commerce.  Such  a  position 
he  soon  discovered  near  the  western  mouth  of  the  Nile, 
where  Alexandria,  founded  by  him,  became  and  con- 
tinued for  many  centuries,  the  chief  commercial  city 
in  the  Levant,  and  after  the  ruin  of  Carthage,  the 
greatest  mart  in  the  world. 

The  military  habits  of  the  Romans,  and  the  want 
of  a  convenient  seaport  to  their  capital,  estranged  them 
from  naval  pursuits.  They  built  galleys  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  opposing  the  Carthaginians  in  war. 
When  the  power  of  Carthage  was  broken,  and  the 
dominion  of  Rome  over  Sicily  and  Greece  became 
absolute,  she  had  the  full  command  of  whatever  naval 
power  those  countries  possessed.  The  whole  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean  was  now  under  her  control,  and 
piracy,  which  had  hitherto  been  a  great  impediment  to 
navigation,  was  checked.  An  extensive  trade  was 
carried  on  between  the  capital  and  the  provinces,  in 
particular  with  Sicily  and  Egypt,  for  corn,  but  the 
government  discovered  no  wish  to  transfer  to  Roman 
citizens  the  management  of  the  shipping  thus  em- 
ployed ;  they  left  it  in  the  hands  of  their  subjects  at 
Alexandria  and  other  remote  seaports,  because  they 
saw  no  political  reason  for  its  removal. 


COMMERCE    AND    NAVIGATION.  141 

The  consequences  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman 
Empire  were  in  a  commercial  sense,  unfortunate ; 
suspending,  in  all  the  different  parts  of  the  empire, 
the  free  intercourse  so  long  enjoyed  under  a  common 
government.  The  towns  were  plundered,  and  pro- 
perty was  unsafe  under  the  control  of  rude  and  law- 
less invaders;  manufacturers  and  artisans  fled  with 
their  families  to  places  of  safety.  Hence,  the  origin 
of  Venice  in  a  very  singular  position  ;  the  town  heing 
built  on  a  collection  of  small  islands  separated  from 
the  main  land  by  shallow  lagoons.  It  was  thus  pro- 
tected from  attacks  by  land,  and  in  some  degree  by 
sea,  as  vessels  above  a  certain  size  could  approach  the 
town  only  by  channels  known  only  to  the  inhabitants. 
The  result  fully  justified  the  confidence  of  the  founders 
of  Venice  in  its  means  of  defence,  and  the  city  grew 
wealthy  by  its  commerce.  Constantinople,  in  like 
manner,  was  long  preserved  amid  the  general  wreck 
of  the  empire.  Protected  by  its  fortifications,  it  con- 
tinued an  asylum  for  the  property  of  merchants,  and  a 
centre  for  the  intercourse  of  the  seaports  in  the  Medi- 
terranean and  Euxine,  which  still  carried  on  trade. 
With  India  it  also  maintained  its  intercourse  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  after  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Sara- 
cens had  interrupted  the  usual  channel  of  navigation 
by  the  Rea  Sea.  The  route  then  adopted  by  mer- 
chants was  very  circuitous.  Goods  were  transported 
from  the  coast  of  Malabar  to  the  Indus,  and  carried  up 
that  river  as  far  as  possible,  and  thence  by  land  to  the 
Oxus,  down  which  they  were  carried  to  the  Caspian 
Sea.  Crossing  the  Caspian,  the  vessels  entered  the 
Wolga,  and  sailed  up  that  stream  until  they  reached 


142  COMMERCE    AND    NAVIGATION. 

the  neighborhood  of  the  Don.  Here  the  goods  were 
unshipped,  carried  by  land  to  the  banks  of  the  Don 
and  re-loaded  in  boats  which  proceeded  down  that 
river  to  the  Euxine,  where  vessels  from  Constan- 
tinople waited  their  arrival.  So  long  and  expensive  a 
conveyance  was  suitable  only  to  goods  of  which  the 
value  was  great  compared  to  their  bulk,  as  silks,  cot- 
tons, and  spices,  which  have  at  all  times  been  the  prin- 
cipal exports  from  India.  Another  and  more  direct 
route  from  India  was  by  the  way  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates,  and  the  desert  and  Palmyra  to  the  coast 
of  the  Levant. 

During  the  Middle  ages,  the  cities  of  Amalfi,  Pisa 
and  Genoa  were  flourishing  seaports.  The  Bank  of 
Venice,  the  earliest  establishment  of  the  kind  in 
Europe,  was  founded  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. The  merchants  of  the«north  of  Italy  were  the 
authors  of  many  valuable  inventions  and  improve- 
ments, such  as  bills  of  exchange,  the  method  of  keep- 
ing accounts  by  double  entry,  the  funding  system,  and 
that  of  creating  and  selling  government  stock.  The 
trade  and  manufactures  of  the  Spaniards  appear,  at 
this  time,  to  have  been  confined  to  the  supply  of  their 
own  wants,  and  their  foreign  intercourse  was  very 
limited.  The  commercial  association  of  the  Hanse 
Towns  was  formed  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
subsisted  above  300  years ;  these  towns  were  Lubec, 
Hamburg,  and  Brunswick,  which  were  subsequently 
joined  by  others.  The  object  was  to  provide  security 
for  mercantile  property  at  a  time  when  the  different 
governments  of  the  North  of  Europe  afforded  such 
security  in  a  very  limited  degree. 


COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION.  143 

No  part  of  Europe  has  a  stronger  claim  on  the  at- 
tention of  commercial  men  than  the  Netherlands,  par- 
ticularly the  maritime  provinces  of  Flanders,  Holland, 
and  Zealand.  Of  these  provinces,  Flanders  took  the 
lead  in  agriculture.  Manufactures  were  established 
at  an  early  date  both  here  and  in  Holland.  In  navi- 
gation, a  decided  superiority  belonged  to  Holland  and 
Zealand,  both  having  a  ready  access  to  the  sea. 
Hence  arose  extensive  fisheries,  first  on  their  own 
coasts,  and  afterwards  at  a  distance  in  the  North  Sea  ; 
hence  also  a  coasting  trade,  which,  as  their  seamen 
grew  more  skilful,  was  extended  to  the  Baltic  and 
Mediterranean.  The  Dutch  thus  became  in  the  course 
of  time,  the  naval  carriers  of  the  north  of  Europe.  It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  two  centuries  ago,  Wentworth, 
Earl  of  Strafford,  when  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  and  anxious  to  proceed  from  Wales  to  Dublin, 
was  compelled  to  wait  till  a  ship  of  war  from  the 
Thames  came  round  to  convey  him  and  his  suite 
across  the  Irish  Channel.  There  were  in  those  days 
no  government  packets,  and  no  English  merchant  ships 
suitable  for  such  a  purpose  ;  the  trade  between  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  being  carried  on  almost  wholly  in 
Dutch  vessels. 


DISCOVERIES  AND  COMMERCIAL  ESTAB- 
LISHMENTS OF  THE  PORTUGUESE  IN 
INDIA. 

THE  mariner's  compass  had  long  been  known  in 
Europe  before  any  considerable  use  had  been  made 


144  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

of  it  in  the  prosecution  of  those  voyages  which  have 
justly  excited  the  admiration  of  mankind.  Super- 
stition and  bloodshed,  foreign  war  and  domestic 
commotions  engrossed  nearly  the  whole  attention  of 
mankind,  so  that  commerce  was  but  little  prosecuted 
by  the  European  states  until  the  daring  genius  of 
Vasco  de  Gama,  Columbus  and  others  awakened 
both  princes  and  people  to  a  spirit  of  adventure  and 
discovery.  The  Arabians,  in  the  meantime,  who  had 
been  plunged  in  superstition,  forsook  their  supineness 
and  began  to  improve  the  advantages  which  conquest 
had  put  into  their  hands.  They  turned  their  thoughts 
toward  the  sciences,  and  encouraged  the  art  of  navi- 
gation, in  which  they  had  already  made  a  great  pro- 
gress. The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  had  not  yet  been 
passed,  at  least  for  the  purposes  of  commerce.  Being 
in  possession  of  Egypt,  they  had  it  in  their  power  to 
secure  to  themselves  the  trade  of  India  on  the  south 
side  of  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  and  Alexandria  became 
the  great  emporium  of  that  commerce.  On  the  Med- 
iterranean side,  the  trade  was  open  from  Alexandria  to 
all  the  European  powers,  but  the  feudal  system,  a 
form  of  government  unfavorable  to  trade  upon  a  large 
scale,  had  spread  itself  over  the  western  world.  The 
people,  the  nobles,  and  even  the  monarchs  lived  in  a 
kind  of  savage  state ;  learning  was  engrossed  by  the 
clergy,  and  commerce  was  neglected  ;  the  first  dawn- 
ing of  the  sciences  appeared  in  Italy.  Venice  and 
Genoa,  two  small  republics,  became,  as  we  have  seen, 
respectable  and  powerful  by  their  attention  to  traffic  ; 
and  by  availing  themselves  of  the  supineness  of  their 
neighbors,  they  had,  in  a  manner,  engrossed  the  whole 
India  trade  on  the  Mediterranean. 


COMMERCE    AND    NAVIGATION.  145 

The  profits  which  arose  from  this  commerce  were 
the  great  motives  of  action  to  enterprise  by  sea. 
Another  passage  to  India,  naturally  occurred  to  the 
people  of  Europe  as  soon  as  they  began  to  turn  their 
attention  to  these  affairs,  and  the  Portuguese  had  the 
honor  of  leading  the  way  to  those  great  undertakings, 
which  have  since  added  such  a  degree  of  celebrity 
to  the  navigators  of  Europe.  In  the  year  1500,  a 
twelvemonth  after  the  return  of  the  celebrated  De 
Gama^  to  Lisbon,  King  Emanuel  of  Portugal,  en- 
couraged by  his  brilliant  success,  fitted  out  a  fleet  of 
thirteen  sail  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  colony  in 
India,  This  fleet,  under  the  command  of  Pedro 
Alvarez  de  Cabral,  in  its  passage  to  the  south,  steered 
so  far  to  the  west,  in  order  to  avoid  the  calms  preva- 
lent on  the  coast  of  Africa,  that  they  came  in  sight  of 
the  continent  of  America  at  a  point  hitherto  undiscov- 
ered. De  Cabral  named  this  new-found  territory 
Santa  Cruz,  but  it  shortly  afterward  obtained  the  name 
of  Brazil ;  and  it  was  to  this  accidental  discovery  that 
the  Portuguese  owed  the  richest  and  most  extensive 
colony  which  has  ever  been  in  their  possession.  One 
of  the  ships  was  sent  back  to  Portugal  with  intelli- 
gence of  this  unexpected  discovery,  and  the  remainder 
pursued  their  course.  Four  of  them  were  lost  in  a 
storm  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  two  others  sepa- 
rated from  the  fleet,  and  the  admiral  reached  Sofala, 
on  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  with  but  six  sail,  on  the 
16th  of  July,  1500.  He  touched  at  several  ports  in 
proceeding  northerly,  and  then  crossed  the  Indian 

*  For  the  history  of  Vasco  de  Gama's  voyage  round  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  see  «  Lights  and  Shadows  of  African  History." 
j  XVIIL — 13 


146  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

Ocean  to  Calicut.  The  Portuguese  admiral  entered 
into  commercial  arrangements  with  the  Zamorin  of 
Calicut,  and  the  kings  of  Cochin  and  Cananor,  and 
returned  to  Europe  with  a  rich  cargo. 

The  following  year,  Joam  de  Nova  was  despatched 
from  Lisbon  ,with  four  ships,  and  arrived  in  India 
without  any  accident.  By  this  time,  the  Portuguese 
had  contrived  to  embroil  themselves  with  the  natives. 
De  Nova  plundered  and  destroyed  many  vessels  at 
Calicut.  He  took  in  a  valuable  lading  at  Cananor 
and  Cochin,  and  steered  for  home.  On  his  return,  he 
discovered  the  Island  of  St.  Helena.  The  next  year 
Vasco  de  Gama  sailed  on  his  second  voyage.  He 
made  no  new  discoveries,  but  effected  some  important 
commercial  arrangements,  and  carried  on  hostilities 
with  Calicut.  The  king  of  Quiloa,  on  the  African 
coast,  submitted  to  the  Portuguese,  and  agreed  to  pay 
tribute.  De  Gama  returned  to  Portugal  with  nine 
ships  richly  laden,  leaving  five  in  India  to  secure  the 
factories  established  there. 

The  Portuguese  thus  having  begun  the  career  of 
conquest  in  the  east,  were  constantly  sending  rich 
cargoes  to  their  own  country,  and  Europe  resounded 
with  the  fame  of  their  exploits.  The  port  of  Lisbon 
gradually  became  the  resort  of  all  the  traders  of 
Europe,  and  the  grand  mart  of  Indian  commodities. 
To  secure  and  extend  these  advantages,  it  became 
necessary  for  the  government  to  adopt  some  system  to 
correct  and  strengthen  what  was  originally  the  off- 
spring of  chance.  A  grand  political  and  commercial 
scheme  was  projected,  wide  enough  to  take  in  all 
objects,  and  so  well  connected  that  all  the  parts  of  the 


COMMERCE   AND   NAVIGATION.  147 

great  edifice  designed  to  be  raised,  should  mutually 
strengthen  each  other.  Alonso  Albuquerque  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  colonial  government,  with 
the  title  of  Viceroy  of  India. 

The  new  viceroy  entered  upon  his  duties  with 
spirit  and  zeal.  He  judged  it  necessary  to  form  a  set- 
tlement in  some  eligible  spot  where  a  good  harbor,  a 
salubrious  air,  and  the  means  of  safe  defence,  would 
enable  the  Portuguese  to  refresh  themselves  after  the 
fatigues  of  their  voyage  from  Europe.  With  this 
view,  he  cast  his  eyes  upon  Goa,  which  he  foresaw 
would  be  an  important  acquisition  to  his  countrymen. 
This  city  is  situated  on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  on  an 
island  separated  from  the  continent  by  the  two 
branches  of  a  river  rising  from  lofty  mountains  in  the 
interior.  Goa  has  one  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the 
world.  Numerous  canals  formed  by  the  hand  of 
nature,  thick  forests  intersected  by  commodious  roads, 
meadows  emanelled  by  an  infinite  variety  of  flowers, 
and  villas  in  the  most  picturesque  situations,  render 
the  neighborhoood  a  most  delightful  spot.  The  city 
was  considered,  even  at  that  time,  as  the  most  advan- 
tageous post  in  India.  It  belonged  to  the  king  of  the 
Deccan,  but  the  officer  who  was  entrusted  with  the 
government  of  it  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Por- 
tuguese, had  revolted,  and  set  up  an  independent  sov- 
ereignty, and  at  this  period  was  endeavoring  to  extend 
his  power  in  Malabar.  While  this  usurper  was  med- 
itating his  schemes  of  conquest  on  the  continent, 
Albuquerque  suddenly  appeared  before  the  gates  of 
Goa,  took  the  city  by  storm,  and  after  a  short  period 
of  hostilities,  established  himself  firmly  in  this  quarter. 


148  COMMERCE  AND   NAVIGATION. 

The  natives  were  too  weak,  too  dispirited,  and  too 
much  at  variance  among  themselves  to  check  the  suc- 
cessful progress  of  the  active  and  enterprising  inva- 
ders. 

The  Venetians  soon  perceived  that  their  commerce 
and  consequently  their  power,  was  in  danger  of  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Portuguese.  Every  expedient 
to  counteract  the  schemes  of  their  rivals,  that  an  able 
administration  could  suggest,  was  practised  by  the 
wily  Italians.  Skilful  emissaries  were  despatched  to 
various  parts  of  the  east  to  persuade  the  Arabs  in 
India  and  Africa,  that,  as  their  interests  were  connected 
with  those  of  the  Venetians,  it  was  their  policy  to  unite 
with  them  against  the  Portuguese,  who  had  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  common  source  of  their 
riches.  The  rumor  of  a  league  for  this  purpose 
reached  the  ears  of  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  whose  atten- 
tion had  been  already  drawn  to  this  subject  by  the 
falling  off  of  his  revenue.  The  customs  on  India 
goods,  which  had  formerly  brought  immense  sums 
into  his  treasury,  now  produced  little  or  nothing. 
Frequent  bankruptcies  which  were  the  necessary  con- 
sequence of  the  decline  of  trade,  exasperated  the  peo- 
ple against  government,  which  is  commonly  held  re- 
sponsible to  the  people  for  the  calamities  which  they 
endure.  The  soldiery,  being  ill  paid,  raised  muti- 
nies. Such  were  some  of  the  first  consequences  of 
the  trade  of  India  being  diverted  into  a  new  channel. 

To  extricate  themselves  from  these  difficulties,  it 
was  necessary  for  the  Egyptians  to  attack  the  Portu- 
guese with  a  fleet,  but  the  Red  Sea  afforded  no  ship- 
timber.  The  Venetians  removed  this  obstacle  by 


COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION.  149 

sending  wood  and  other  materials  to  Alexandria, 
which  were  conveyed  up  the  Nile  to  Cairo,  from 
whence  they  were  carried  on  the  backs  of  camels  to 
Suez,  and  in  the  year  1508,  a  fleet  of  ten  sail  weighed 
anchor  from  that  port  for  India.  The  Portuguese, 
who  foresaxv  this  confederacy,  had  the  preceding 
year  laid  a  scheme  to  prevent  the  consequences,  by 
making  themselves  masters  of  the  Red  Sea,  being 
confident  that  with  this  advantage  they  should  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  their  rivals.  They  determined 
to  seize  the  island  of  Socotora  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Red  Sea.  A  considerable  armament  under  the  com- 
mand of  Tristan  da  Cunha  was  despatched  from  Por- 
tugal with  this  object.  On  landing  upon  the  island, 
they  found  it  in  possession  of  Ibrahim,  the  son  of  an 
Arabian  prince,  who  held  the  sovereignty  of  the 
adjoining  part  of  the  continent.  Ibrahim  was  killed  in 
the  first  attack  of  the  Portuguese ;  the  capital  of  the 
island  was  besieged  and  captured  by  storm,  although 
defended  to  the  last  extremity  by  a  garrison  superior 
in  number  to  their  assailants.  The  Arabs  determined 
not  to  survive  their  commander ;  they  refused  to 
capitulate,  and  were,  every  man,  put  to  the  sword. 

Notwithstanding  this  success,  the  Egyptian  fleet 
found  a  safe  passage  to  India,  where  it  joined  that  of 
Cambaya.  The  Portuguese,  who  had  sent  a  great 
number  of  their  ships  with  merchandise  to  Europe, 
found  themselves  not  a  match  for  their  enemies  in  the 
first  rencounters,  and  suffered  considerable  loss ;  but 
this  state  of  things  did  not  continue  long ;  the  Portu- 
guese received  re-inforcements,  and  soon  regained 
their  superiority,  which  they  ever  after  preserved. 
13* 


150  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

The  armaments  which  were  despatched  from  the  Eed 
Sea,  were  always  beaten  and  dispersed  by  the  small 
Portugese  squadrons  that  were  kept  cruising  about  the 
Straits  of  Babelmandel. 

Albuquerque  had  a  genius  for  great  schemes  of 
conquest  and  traffic.  He  began  a  negotiation  with  the 
Emperor  of  Abyssinia,  for  the  purpose  of  attempting 
to  induce  him  to  turn  the  course  of  the  Nile  so  as  to 
open  a  passage  from  that  country  into  the  Red  Sea. 
By  this  means  he  expected  to  render  Egypt  in  a  great 
measure  uninhabitable,  or  at  least,  unfit  for  commerce. 
In  the  mean  time,  he  proposed  to  transport  into  Ara- 
bia through  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  a  body  of  cavalry  suf- 
ficient to  capture  the  cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina. 
He  imagined  that  by  so  bold  a  movement,  he  should 
strike  terror  into  the  Mohammedans  and  put  a  stop  to 
that  prodigious  concourse  of  pilgrims  which  was  the 
chief  support  of  the  commerce  which  it  was  his  design 
totally  to  extirpate.  But  other  enterprises,  of  a  less 
daring  and  extravagant  nature,  and  attended  with 
more  immediate  advantage,  induced  him  to  postpone 
these  schemes  for  a  time.  The  conquest  of  Egypt  by 
the  Turks,  a  few  years  afterward,  put  a  new  face 
upon  affairs. 

Men  of  genius  and  reflection,  who  were  capable  of 
understanding  the  connection  of  events  which  had 
preceded  and  followed  the  discovery  of  the  passage 
round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  of  forming  conjec- 
tures as  to  the  consequences,  could  not  help  consider- 
ing this  event  as  constituting  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant eras  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Europe  had 
but  just  begun  to  recover  its  strength,  and  to  shake 


COMMERCE  AND   NAVIGATION.  151 

off  the  yoke  of  slavery  which  had  oppressed  its  inhab- 
itants from  the  period  of  the  Roman  conquests  down 
to  the  institution  of  the  feudal  laws.  Innumerable 
petty  tyrants  who  had  kept  multitudes  in  a  state  of 
oppression  and  slavery,  had  been  ruined  by  the  cru- 
sades. To  defray  the  expenses  of  these  romantic  expe- 
ditions, they  had  been  forced  to  sell  their  lands  and 
castles,  and  for  pecuniary  considerations,  to  allow 
their  vassals  privileges  which  at  length  reinstated 
them  in  the  order  of  human  beings.  From  this  time, 
the  right  of  property  began  to  be  introduced  among 
the  people,  and  gave  them  that  kind  of  independence 
without  which,  property  itself  is  a  mere  illusion. 
Thus,  the  first  dawnings  of  liberty  in  Europe,  how- 
ever unexpectedly,  owing  to  the  crusades,  and  the 
rage  of  conquest,  for  once,  contributed  to  the  hap- 
piness of  mankind. 

Had  Vasco  de  Gama  not  made  his  discoveries,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  would  again 
have  been  checked,  and  possibly  extinguished  without 
hopes  of  a  revival.  The  Turks  were  on  the  point  of 
expelling  those  savage  nations,  who,  pouring  down 
from  the  north,  had  driven  out  the  Romans  to  become 
like  them,  the  scourges  of  mankind ;  and  the  barba- 
rous institutions  of  Europe  would  have  been  sup- 
planted by  oppressions  still  more  intolerable.  This 
must  inevitably  have  been  the  case,  had  the  Mussul- 
man conquerors  of  Egypt  not  been  repulsed  by  the 
Portuguese  in  their  expeditions  to  India.  The  Turks, 
possessing  the  riches  of  Asia,  would  have  secured 
their  claim  to  those  of  Europe.  As  the  trade  of 
almost  the  whole  world  would  have  been  in  their 


152  COMMERCE   AND   NAVIGATION. 

hands,  they  must  necessarily  have  possessed  the 
greatest  maritime  force  that  had  ever  been  known.  It 
is  a  singular  fact  that  the  Portuguese,  probably  the 
most  superstitious  and  enslaved  people  of  all  Christen- 
dom, should  be  destined  to  check  the  progress  of  the 
fanaticism  of  the  Mohammedans,  and  put  a  stop  to 
their  career  of  victories  by  depriving  them  of  those 
sources  of  wealth  which  were  necessary  to  the  success 
of  their  enterprises. 

Albuquerque,  not  satisfied  with  having  taken 
measures  for  shutting  up  the  Red  Sea,  attempted  to 
acquire  the  command  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  Near  its 
entrance  stands  the  island  of  Gombroon,  where,  in  the 
eleventh  century,  an  Arabian  conqueror  built  upon  a 
barren  rock  the  city  of  Ormuz,  which  afterwards  became 
the  capital  of  an  empire  comprehending  a  considerable 
part  of  Arabia  on  one  side  and  of  Persia  on  the  other. 
Ormuz  had  two  harbors,  and  was  well  fortified.  Its 
riches  were  entirely  owing  to  its  advantageous  situa- 
tion. It  was  the  central  point  of  trade  between  Persia 
and  India,  which  was  very  great  at  a  time  when  the 
Persians  conveyed  most  of  the  merchandize  brought 
from  Asia  to  Europe  through  the  ports  of  Syria. 
Ormuz  exhibited  at  that  period  a  scene  of  great 
wealth,  and  of  the  most  thriving  commerce.  Its  mar- 
kets were  thronged  by  merchants  with  their  commod- 
ities from  every  quarter  of  the  known  world,  and  the 
manners  of  the  inhabitants  exhibited  a  degree  of 
refinement  and  politeness  seldom  witnessed  in  a  mere 
emporium  of  traffic. 

The  civility  of  the  people,  the  regularity  of  the 
police,  the  variety  of  entertainments  which  the  city 


COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION.  153 

afforded,  in  connection  with  the  interests  of  commerce, 
invited  merchants  and  travellers  from  every  nation. 
The  streets  were  neatly  furnished  with  mats,  and  in 
some  places  even  with  handsome  carpets,  for  the  con- 
venience of  pedestrians  ;  the  linen  awnings  suspended 
from  the  housetops  screened  them  from  the  sunbeams. 
Indian  cabinets,  ornamented  with  gilded  vases,  porce- 
lain jars  filled  with  flowering  shrubs,  and  aromatic 
plants  adorned  the  apartments  of  the  houses.  Camels 
laden  with  water  were  stationed  in  the  public  squares. 
Persian  wines,  perfumes,  and  all  the  delicacies  of  the 
table  were  furnished  in  the  greatest  abundance,  and 
the  music  of  the  East  was  heard  in  the  highest  perfec- 
tion. Ormuz  was  crowded  with  beautiful  women 
from  all  parts  of  Asia,  who  were  instructed  from  their 
infancy  in  every  Oriental  accomplishment.  In  a 
word,  universal  opulence,  extensive  commerce,  refined 
luxury  and  politeness,  and  all  the  gaieties  of  a  great  and 
flourishing  city  combined  their  attractions  in  this  spot. 
Albuquerque,  on  his  arrival  in  this  quarter,  began  to 
ravage  the  coast  and  plunder  the  towns  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  Ormuz.  These  inroads  savored  more  of 
the  pirate  than  of  the  warrior;  but  Albuquerque  hoped 
by  these  measures  to  strike  such  a  terror  into  the 
sovereign  as  to  induce  him  to  submit  at  once  to  the 
Portuguese  authority.  As  soon  as  he  imagined  he 
had  spread  a  sufficient  degree  of  alarm,  he  appeared 
before  the  city,  and  summoned  the  king  to  acknowl- 
edge himself  tributary  to  the  crown  of  Portugal,  as 
he  had  formerly  been  to  that  of  Persia.  This  propo- 
sal was  rejected  with  scorn,  and  a  fleet  composed  of 
ships  of  Ormuz,  Arabia  and  Persia  was  equipped  for 


154  COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION. 

the  defence  of  the  place.  A  naval  action  ensued,  in 
which  the  small  Portuguese  squadron  destroyed  the 
whole  eastern  armament.  The  king,  discouraged  by 
this  mishap,  opened  a  negotiation,  and  consented  that 
the  Portuguese  should  erect  a  fort  which  commanded 
the  city  and  both  its  harbors.  By  this  means,  they 
succeeded  in  establishing  themselves  firmly  at  Ormuz. 
Albuquerque  now  extended  his  scheme  of  conquest. 
The  city  of  Malacca,  situated  in  the  straits  of  that 
name,  was  one  of  the  most  flourishing  commercial 
marts  in  India;  its  harbor  was  constantly  crowded 
with  vessels  from  Japan,  China,  the  Philippine  and 
Molucca  islands,  as  well  as  from  Bengal,  Coromandel, 
Malabar,  Persia,  Arabia  and  Africa.  The  Portu- 
guese first  appeared  at  Malacca  in  the  character  of 
merchants,  but  their  usurpations  and  conquests  in  In- 
dia had  rendered  their  designs  so  much  suspected,  and 
the  animosity  of  the  Arabians  had  circulated  reports 
so  much  to  their  disadvantage  that  plots  were  laid  for 
their  destruction.  Several  of  them  were  massacred, 
others  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  the  remainder  were 
obliged  to  flee.  The  Portuguese  viceroy  was  not  dis- 
pleased at  this  event,  as  it  gave  his  projected  design 
upon  Malacca  a  color  of  justice.  He  did  not  hesitate  a 
moment,  but  appeared  with  a  fleet  before  the  city  in  the 
year  1511.  After  several  bloody  engagements  Malacca 
was  taken.  The  conquerors  found  in  it  an  immense 
treasure,  vast  magazines,  and  all  sorts  of  rich  mer- 
chandize. They  established  themselves  firmly  in  this 
place,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  kings  of  Siam,  Pegu, 
and  several  other  princes,  alarmed  at  the  victorious 
career  of  the  Portuguese,  sent  ambassadors  to  Albu- 


COMMERCE    AND   NAVIGATION.  155 

querque,  to  make  him  an  offer  of  their  trade,  and  to 
solicit  an  alliance  with  Portugal.  These  advantages 
were  followed  by  acquisitions  in  the  Molucca  islands, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Portuguese  in  the  island 
of  Macao  on  the  coast  of  China,  and  in  Japan. 

With  these  enormous  successes,  the  avarice  as  well 
as  the  ambition  of  the  Portuguese  might  well  have 
been  satisfied.  They  were  masters  of  the  coast 
of  Guinea,  Arabia,  Persia,  Hindostan,  and  Malaya  ; 
they  possessed  the  Moluccas,  Ceylon,  and  the  Sunda 
Islands,  while  their  settlement  at  Macao  secured  to 
them  the  commerce  of  China  and  Japan.  Throughout 
these  immense  regions  the  Portuguese  authority  was 
supreme.  No  native  or  private  person  dared  to  make 
voyages  or  carry  on  trade  without  their  permission  ; 
they  reserved  to  themselves  a  monopoly  of  the  most 
valuable  articles  of  trade  ;  consequently  the  prices  of 
Indian  commodities,  both  in  Europe  and  Asia,  were 
regulated  at  their  discretion.  The  king  of  Portugal, 
one  of  the  smallest  kingdoms  in  Christendom,  received 
tribute  from  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  eastern 
princes. 

These  successes  properly  improved  might  have 
formed  a  power  so  mighty  that  it  could  not  have  been 
undermined  except  by  lapse  of  time.  But  the  hero- 
ism, courage,  activity  and  enterprise  of  the  conquerors 
soon  declined  from  their  high  and  palmy  state.  The 
wantonness  of  victory,  the  abuse  of  riches  and  power, 
the  vices  and  follies  of  rulers,  and  the  indulgence 
in  every  sort  of  Oriental  luxury  soon  wrought  a  mate- 
rial change  in  the  manners  of  the  conquerors.  They 
became  effeminate,  indolent,  and  debauched ;  corrup- 


156         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  COLUMBUS. 

tion  prevailed  in  the  finances,  and  rapacity,  plunder, 
and  oppression  marked  the  whole  course  of  their  gov- 
ernment. The  great  empire  founded  by  the  heroism 
of  De  Gama  and  Albuquerque,  speedily  declined  under 
the  imbecile  sway  of  their  successors,  and  the  source  of 
the  glory,  power  and  opulence  of  the  Portuguese  has 
now  become  that  of  their  ruin  and  disgrace. 

VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 
COLUMBUS.* 

THE  first  voyage  of  this  great  discoverer,  which 
was  made  in  1492,  only  disclosed  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Spaniards  a  group  of  islands  in  the  west; 
but  they  imagined  that  the  regions  of  Hindostan, 
China,  and  Japan  lay  immediately  beyond  them.  On 
the  second  voyage  of  Columbus  in  the  following  year, 
he  added  to  his  discoveries  the  Caribbee  Islands  and 
Jamaica.  On  his  third  expedition  in  1498,  he  steered 
farther  to  the  south  than  before,  and  came  within  five 
degrees  of  the  line.  Thence  steering  to  the  north- 
west, he  discovered  the  island  of  Trinidad,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  the  vast  size  of  which  river 
assured  him  that  its  source  must  be  in  a  great  conti- 
nent. He  next  touched  upon  various  parts  of  the 
continent  forming  the  coast  of  the  present  districts  of 
Caraccas,  Cumana,  and  Paria,  which,  however,  he  then 
conceived  to  be  an  island.  The  shattered  condition 
of  his  ships,  scarcity  of  provisions,  his  own  infirm- 
ities, together  with  the  impatience  of  his  crew,  pre- 

*  For  the  life  and  voyages  of  Columbus,  see  "Lights  and 
Shadows  of  American  History." 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  COLUMBUS.          157 

vented  him  from  pursuing  his  discoveries  any  further, 
and  forced  him  to  bear  away  for  Hispaniola.  On  his 
route  thither,  he  discovered  the  islands  of  Cubagua 
and  Margarita,  which  afterwards  became  remarkable 
for  their  pearl  fishery. 

In  1502,  Columbus  sailed  on  his  fourth  and  last 
voyage  with  four  vessels,  and  provisions  for  two  years. 
His  design  was  to  find  a  passage  to  the  South  Sea, 
which  he  believed  to  exist  somewhere  near  the  isthmus 
of  Darien.  As  he  approached  the  continent,  he  was 
becalmed  and  driven  by  the  currents  ruear  the  Queen's 
Garden,  a  group  of  islands  and  shoals  to  the  south  of 
Cuba.  Here  the  calm  changed  to  a  storm,  and  for 
the  space  of  seventy  days  they  saw  neither  sun  nor 
stars.  The  vessels  were  leaky,  the  crews  worn  out 
with  fatigue,  and  their  commander  almost  on  the  point 
of  death,  when  they  discovered  a  small  island  which 
was  called  by  the  Indians  Guanajo.  This  was  the 
Isle  of  Pines.  The  natives  were  friendly,  and  the 
Spaniards  here  met  with  a  large  boat,  eight  feet  broad, 
with  an  awning  of  palm  leaves,  under  which  the 
women,  children  and  goods  were  sheltered  from  the 
rain.  She  was  from  Yucatan,  laden  with  cotton  man- 
tles, finely  painted,  wooden  swords  with  sharp  flint 
fastened  into  the  edges,  small  copper  axes,  bells, 
plates,  crucibles  for  melting  copper,  and  cocoa,  which 
served  them  for  money.  Columbus  treated  the  Indians 
kindly,  taking  specimens  of  their  cargo,  and  then  dis- 
missed them  all  except  an  old  man,  from  whom  he 
hoped  to  gain  information.  To  the  inquiry  for  gold, 
he  gave  them  to  understand  by  signs,  that  it  was  found 
to  the  eastward. 

On  reaching  the  coast  of  Honduras,  the  Spaniards 
xviii. — 14 


158         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  COLUMBUS. 

were  struck  with  the  evidences  of  superior  civilization 
which  the  country  exhibited.  The  inhabitants  ap- 
peared to  have  made  a  greater  progress  in  the  culti- 
vation of  the  useful  arts  than  any  tribe  of  the  natives 
which  they  had  yet  seen.  In  return  to  the  inquiries 
which  the  Spaniards  made  with  their  usual  eagerness 
concerning  gold,  they  directed  them  to  the  west, 
where,  as  they  affirmed,  it  existed  in  great  abundance. 
Columbus,  however,  had  chiefly  at  heart  the  design 
of  exploring  an  entrance  to  the  South  Sea;  and  in- 
stead of  steering  to  the  west,  which  course  would 
have  conducted  him  along  the  coast  of  Yucatan  to  the 
rich  empire  of  Mexico,  he  bore  away  toward  the  Gulf 
of  Darien.  In  this  navigation  he  discovered  all  the 
coast  of  the  continent  from  Cape  Gracias  a  Dios  to  a 
harbor,  which  on  account  of  its  beauty  and  security, 
he  named  Porto  Bello.  He  searched  in  vain  for  the 
imaginary  strait  through  which  he  expected  to  make 
his  way  into  an  unknown  sea ;  and  though  he  landed 
several  times,  and  advanced  into  the  country,  he  did 
not  penetrate  so  far  as  to  cross  the  narrow  isthmus 
which  separates  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from  the  great 
southern  ocean.  He  was  so  much  delighted,  how- 
ever, with  the  fertility  of  the  country,  and  conceived 
so  high  an  idea  of  its  wealth  from  the  specimens  of 
gold  produced  by  the  natives,  that  he  resolved  to  leave 
a  small  colony  on  the  river  Belem,  in  the  province  of 
Veragua,  under  the  command  of  his  brother,  and  to 
return  himself  to  Spain  in  order  to  procure  what  was 
requisite  to  render  the  establishment  permanent.  But 
the  ungovernable  spirit  of  his  crews  deprived  Colum- 
bus of  the  glory  of  planting  the  first  colony  on  the 
continent  of  America.  Their  insolence  and  rapacity 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN.          159 

provoked  the  natives  to  take  up  arms,  and  as  these 
were  a  more  hardy  and  warlike  race  of  men  than  the 
inhabitants  of  the  islands,  they  cut  off  a  part  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  forced  the  remainder  to  abandon  a 
station  that  was  found  to  be  untenable. 

This  was  the  limit  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus. 
The  remainder  of  his  history,  however  interesting, 
cannot  be  detailed  here  ;  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  ex- 
patiate upon  the  great  services  which  the  intrepid  navi- 
gator has  rendered  to  the  world  by  his  discoveries. 

VOYAGE    AND    DISCOVERIES    OF 
MAGELLAN. 

FERDINAND  DE  MAGELLAN,  or  Magalhaens,  as  the 
name  is  written  in  his  native  Portuguese,  distinguished 
himself  in  the  East  Indies  under  the  Viceroy  Albu- 
querque, but  thinking  his  services  ill  requited,  he  en- 
tered into  the  employment  of  Charles  the  Fifth  of 
Spain.  Columbus  had  already  discovered  in  the 
west  what  was  believed  to  be  India,  and  the  Spanish 
court  formed  the  bold  design  of  tracing  out  a  new  pas- 
sage in  that  direction  to  the  Molucca  Islands,  which  were 
then  known  to  them  by  report,  and  which  they  offered 
to  prove,  fell  within  the  division  of  the  globe  assigned 
by  the  Pope  to  the  King  of  Castile.  Magellan  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  this  expedition,  which  consisted 
of  five  ships  and  236  men.  He  sailed  from  San 
Lucar,  September  20th,  1519.  The  outset  of  his 
voyage  was  beset  by  the  same  obstacles  which  annoyed 
Columbus.  Murmurs  soon  arose  among  the  crews, 
and  a  conspiracy  was  formed  against  him  as  soon  as 
he  had  put  into  the  port  of  San  Julian,  in  South 


160         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN. 

America.  This  he  discovered  and  quelled.  To  one 
of  the  ships  he  sent  a  messenger  with  a  letter  to  the 
captain,  and  a  dagger,  ordering  him  to  plunge  it  into 
that  officer's  heart  while  he  was  reading  the  letter. 
He  boarded  the  second  ship  and  secured  the  mutineers; 
the  third  submitted.  One  of  ther*japtains  was  hung 
at  the  yard  arm,  and  the  other  was  turned  ashore. 

San  Julian  was  on  a  part  of  the  coast  that  had  not 
been  visited  before.  The  natives  were  described  as  of 
a  gigantic  size,  and  wearing  a  kind  of  shoes  made  of 
hide,  which  caused  their  feet  to  look  like  an  animal's 
hoof,  on  which  account  the  Spaniards  gave  them  the 
name  of  Patagones  :  in  the  Spanish,  pata  signifying  a 
hoof  or  paw.  This  name  has  adhered  to  the  country 
and  its  inhabitants  ever  since.  Magellan  lost  one  of 
his  ships  here,  and  steering  to  the  south  along  the 
coast  of  Patagonia,  reached  the  mouth  of  the  cele- 
brated strait  which  is  now  known  by  his  name.  The 
commander  was  obliged  to  exert  all  his  authority  to 
induce  his  men  to  venture  into  this  unknown  passage 
with  a  view  of  crossing  the  ocean  beyond  it,  at  the 
hazard  of  running  short  of  provisions,  as  they  had  only 
three  months'  supply.  One  of  the  ships  deserted  him 
and  sailed  home.  With  the  remaining  three  he  pro- 
ceeded through  the  strait,  encountering  much  stormy 
weather,  and  at  length  on  the  27th  of  November,  he 
discovered  the  South  Sea,  the  sight  of  which,  says 
the  narrator,  brought  tears  of  joy  into  the  commander's 
eye. 

The  fleet  now  boldly  launched  into  this  wide  ocean 
of  the  extent  of  which  they  had  not  the  faintest  knowl- 
edge or  conception.  On  the  24th  of  January,  1521, 
they  discovered  a  small  uninhabited  island  which  they 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN.         161 

named  San  Pablo.  On  the  4th  of  February,  another 
similar  island  was  seen,  which  they  named  Tilurones 
or  "  Sharks."  This  island  cannot  at  present  be  iden- 
tified. It  was  singularly  unfortunate  for  these  adven- 
turous navigators,  that  while  in  so  destitute  a  condition 
with  regard  to  provisions,  mere  chance  should  have  led 
them  upon  such  a  track  across  this  wide  ocean,  which 
contains  such  a  multitude  of  fruitful  and  uninhabited 
islands,  many  of  them  mountainous  so  as  to  be  seen  at 
a  great  distance,  and  that  nothing  should  have  been  dis- 
covered by  them  but  a  couple  of  barren  and  solitary 
islets. 

As  they  proceeded,  they  endured  great  distress. 
Their  provisions  failed,  and  they  were  compelled  to 
eat  sawdust  and  the  leather  of  the  rigging.  Many  of 
the  men  were  attacked  by  the  scurvy,  and  twenty  of 
them  died.  Fortunately  they  experienced  a  long  con- 
tinuance of  mild  and  temperate  weather,  which  caused 
Magellan  to  bestow  upon  this  sea  the  name  of  the 
PACIFIC  OCEAN,  which  name,  as  is  well  known,  it  has 
ever  since  retained,  although  it  is  appropriate  only 
within  certain  latitudes.  At  length,  after  a  voyage  of 
upwards  of  four  months  from  the  Straits  of  Magellan, 
to  their  infinite  joy,  they  discovered  land.  Two  beau- 
tiful islands  were  seen  on  the  6th  of  March,  and  as 
the  ships  drew  near,  the  inhabitants  came  off  in 
canoes  bringing  yams,  cocoa-nuts  and  rice.  They 
were  a  stout,  well-made  people,  of  an  olive  complexion, 
with  long  hair,  and  teeth  dyed  red  and  black  for  orna- 
ment. They  wore  no  other  covering  than  a  kind  of 
apron  of  cloth  made  of  the  bark  of  trees,  and  they 
carried  lances  pointed  with  fish-bones.  Their  canoes 
K  14* 


162        VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN. 

had  shoulder-of-mutton  sails,  and  each  canoe  had 
an  outrigger,  that  is,  a  light  boom  or  pole  running 
out  horizontally  from  the  side  of  the  canoe,  and  kept 
firm  in  its  position  by  braces.  This  outrigger,  by 
its  weight  and  buoyancy,  kept  the  canoe  steady,  for, 
being  a  vessel  of  very  light  and  narrow  construction, 
it  would,  without  such  support,  have  been  in  danger  of 
over-setting.  The  canoes  were  built  exactly  alike  at 
both  ends,  and  sailed  either  way  with  extraordinary 
swiftness. 

Magellan  wished  to  make  some  stay  at  these  islands, 
but  the  natives  were  so  much  addicted  to  pilfering  that 
quarrels  soon  became  frequent.  Whatever  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on  they  were  sure  to  steal,  and  the 
numbers  that  flocked  on  board  the  ships  became  so 
great  that  the  commander  ordered  the  decks  to  be 
cleared  of  such  troublesome  visiters.  The  natives 
resented  this  rough  treatment  and  attacked  the  Span- 
iards with  lances  and  stones.  A  battle  ensued,  and 
some  of  the  Indians  were  killed.  The  ships,  however, 
remained  cruising  near  the  islands,  and  the  natives,  in 
spite  of  what  had  happened,  continued  to  visit  them 
for  the  purpose  of  barter,  till  one  evening  they  found 
a  chance  to  steal  a  skiff  that  was  towing  astern  of  the 
admiral's  ship,  and  carry  it  off.  This  so  provoked 
him  that  he  landed  the  next  day  with  a  large  number 
of  men,  and  set  fire  to  their  houses.  Several  of  the 
natives  were  killed,  and  the  Spaniards  carried  off  all 
the  provisions  they  could  find.  The  Indians  seeing 
so  much  mischief  done  on  account  of  the  boat,  set  her 
adrift,  and  the  Spaniards  picked  her  up.  They  named 
these  islands  the  Ladrones,  or  Thieves. 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN.         163 

Leaving  these  islands,  Magellan  sailed  southwester- 
ly, and  discovered  other  islands,  which  were  named  the 
Archipelago  of  St.  Lazarus.  The  inhabitants  showed 
many  marks  of  civilization  and  friendship  to  strangers. 
Some  of  the  principal  persons  among  them  wore  ear- 
rings, bracelets  of  gold,  and  long  pieces  of  cotton  cloth 
embroidered  with  silk  about  their  heads.  They  were 
nearly  naked,  and  their  bodies  were  anointed  with 
fragrant  oil.  Some  of  them  had  holes  through  the 
cartilage  of  the  ears,  wide  enough  for  a  man's  arm  to 
pass  through.  They  had  the  custom  of  marking  their 
bodies  in  the  manner  now  known  as  tattooing,  and 
they  all  chewed  a  kind  of  fruit  called  areca,  wrapped  up 
in  the  leaves  of  the  same  tree,  which  were  called  betel. 
Their  arms  were  cutlasses,  bucklers,  clubs,  and  lances, 
many  of  which  were  ornamented  with  gold.  Their 
lands  were  cultivated,  and  they  had  storehouses,  in 
which  were  deposited  cloves,  cinnamon,  pepper,  mace, 
and  nutmegs. 

At  the  island  of  Mazagua,  they  visited  the  rajah,  or 
sovereign.  His  house  was  built  in  the  form  of  a  hay- 
stack, thatched  with  banana-leaves,  and  resting  upon 
four  posts,  so  high  in  the  air  that  it  was  entered  by  a 
ladder.  The  rajah  at  his  meals  sat  on  mats,  cross- 
legged.  The  vessels  in  which  he  was  served  were 
of  porcelain  or  gold,  and  the  candles  were  made  of 
gum.  His  hair  was  black,  and  "hung  loose  on  his 
shoulders.  He  had  a  light  covering  of  silk  on  his 
head,  and  in  his  ears  two  rings  of  gold.  Around 
his  waist  he  wore  a  piece  of  cotton  cloth  embroidered 
with  silk,  which  reached  to  his  knees,  and  at  his  side 
a  dagger,  or  short  sword,  with  a  golden  handle.  The 


164        VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  BIAGELLAN. 

narrator  also  describes  appearances  of  gold  about  his 
teeth,  which  will  appear  the  less  incredible  when  it  is 
considered  that  at  the  present  day  the  people  of  Ma- 
cassar have  a  custom  of  drawing  the  natural  teeth,  and 
substituting  golden  ones.  A  large  ingot  of  gold  was 
offered  to  the  Spaniards  in  exchange  for  six  strings  of 
glass  beads;  but  this  traffic  was  forbidden  by  the  com- 
mander, that  the  islanders  might  not  be  taught  to  com- 
prehend how  much  more  the  Europeans  valued  gold 
than  their  own  merchandize.  An  Indian  brought  a 
jar  of  rice  and  some  figs  to  sell,  for  which  he  demand 
ed  a  knife.  To  ascertain  the  relative  value  which 
they  set  upon  gold,  some  money  was  offered  him,  and 
among  other  pieces  a  doubloon  ;  but  the  coin  was 
refused  and  the  knife  taken  in  preference. 

Magellan  visited  several  other  islands,  which  it 
appears  belonged  to  the  group  now  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Philippines.  He  was  well  received  and 
entertained,  and  he  took  formal  possession  of  the  ter- 
ritories in  the  name  of  the  Spanish  crown  according 
to  the  mode  observed  in  those  days.  At  a  small 
island  called  Matan,  he  demanded  of  the  chief  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  fealty  and  obedience  to  the  Span- 
ish sovereign,  and  also  a  submission  to  the  king  of  the 
neighboring  island  of  Zebu,  whom  he  had  converted 
to  Christianity ;  threatening  him  with  the  destruction 
of  his  town  in  case  these  demands  were  not  satisfied. 
The  chief  replied  that  he  was  willing  to  be  on  good 
terms  with  the  Spaniards,  and  to  supply  them  with  pro- 
visions, but  that  he  owed  no  obedience  to  strangers 
of  whom  he  had  never  heard,  neither  would  he  sub- 
mit to  men  whom  he  had  long  been  accustomed  to 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN.          165 

command.  Magellan  very  imprudently  resolved  to 
punish  the  chief  for  his  contumacy,  although  his  friend, 
the  Christian  king,  attempted  to  dissuade  him.  Find- 
ing him  determined,  he  then  offered  to  assist  him  in 
the  desperate  enterprise  with  a  thousand  of  his  own 
troops  ;  but  the  Spanish  commander  was  so  fully  per- 
suaded that  no  number  of  Indians  could  withstand 
the  assault  of  sixty  armed  Europeans,  that  he  ordered 
the  king  to  remain  quietly  aloof  with  his  men  in  their 
canoes,  that  they  might  take  notice  how  the  Spaniards 
fought. 

Leaving  ten  or  twelve  men  to  guard  his  boats,  Ma- 
gellan marched  at  the  head  of  about  fifty  to  attack  some 
thousands  of  Indians.  No  enemy  at  first  appeared  ; 
the  Spaniards  began  to  set  fire  to  the  houses,  when, 
suddenly,  a  strong  body  of  natives  appeared  on  their 
flank.  By  the  time  the  Spaniards  had  thrown  them- 
selves into  order  of  battle  to  receive  them,  another  body 
appeared  on  the  other  flank,  and  then  another  in  front. 
The  Indians,  however,  did  not  venture  on  a  close 
attack,  but  poured  in  their  arrows  and  other  missiles 
from  a  distance,  against  the  musketry  and  crossbows 
of  the  Spaniards.  This  skirmishing  continued  the 
greater  part  of  the  day,  when  the  islanders,  finding 
that  they  received  less  injury  than  they  apprehended, 
were  encouraged  to  approach  near  enough  to  aim  their 
darts  at  the  person  of  the  commander.  In  order  to 
intimidate  them,  he  ordered  a  few  men  to  set  fire  to 
the  houses  in  the  neighborhood,  about  twenty  of  which 
were  consumed ;  but  this  produced  an  effect  contrary 
to  what  had  been  anticipated.  Either  from  rage  at 
seeing  their  dwellings  burnt,  or  thinking  they  could 


166         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN. 

attack  the  detachment  with  advantage,  the  Indians 
rushed  toward  the  spot,  and  two  of  the  Spaniards  were 
killed.  The  conflict  now  grew  serious  ;  the  ammunition 
of  the  Spaniards  began  to  fail,  and  their  fire  slackened, 
which,  being  observed  by  the  islanders,  they  pressed 
the  attack  more  closely,  and  Magellan  found  it  neces- 
sary to  order  a  retreat. 

The  Christian  king,  during  the  whole  of  this  time, 
had  paid  the  most  exact  obedience  to  the  orders  which 
were  given  him;  he  and  his  men  sat  quietly  looking 
on,  without  moving  from  their  canoes.  The  person 
of  Magellan  being  known  to  the  Indians  of  Matan, 
their  shots  were  principally  pointed  at  him,  and  he 
was  presently  wounded  by  an  arrow.  The  boats 
toward  which  they  were  retreating  were  still  at  a  dis- 
tance, and  many  of  the  Spaniards,  instead  of  preserv- 
ing order  in  their  ranks,  retreated  with  precipitation, 
and  their  march  became  more  confused  in  conse- 
quence of  the  rockiness  of  the  shores.  The  helmet 
of  Magellan  was  twice  beaten  off  his  head  by  stones  ; 
he  received  a  wound  which  disabled  his  right  arm,  and, 
being  closely  pressed  by  multitudes,  he  was  soon 
brought  to  the  ground,  where  an  Indian  thrust  him 
through  with  a  lance.  The  Christian  king  seeing 
the  rout  of  the  Spaniards,  hastened  to  their  relief, 
and  secured  their  retreat.  Eight  Spaniards  were 
killed,  besides  their  commander,  and  twenty- two  were 
wounded. 

Thus  unexpectedly  fell  Magellan,  in  a  quarrel  most 
unjustifiably  provoked  by  himself,  and  prosecuted  with 
rashness  and  presumption.  Yet  his  courage,  enter- 
prise and  fortitude  make  him  well  worthy  of  the  title 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF  MAGELLAN.         167 

of  Great  Captain,  bestowed  on  him  by  the  historian  of 
America.  A  strong  and  peculiar  feature  of  his  char- 
acter appears  to  have  been  inflexible  perseverance. 
He  was  firmly  bent  on  the  performance  of  whatever 
he  undertook,  and  no  common  discouragements  would 
turn  him  from  his  purpose.  He  was  a  man  formed  to 
encounter  difficulties;  and  while  he  believed  them 
surmountable  they  increased  the  earnestness  of  the 
pursuit.  In  resolution  and  decision,  whatever  may 
be  said  of  his  judgment,  few  men  of  any  age  have 
equalled  him.  As  a  navigator  he  was  not  inferior  to 
any  of  his  time ;  and  as  a  discoverer  he  was  second 
only  to  Columbus,  whose  enterprise  was  so  grand  that 
it  left  no  room  for  an  equal. 

Though  Magellan  did  not,  strictly  speaking,  circum- 
navigate the  globe,  yet  by  his  having,  previous  to  this 
voyage,  been  in  the  East  Indies,  he  was  not  many 
degrees  short  of  having  made  the  circuit.  The  honor 
of  being  the  first  man  who  completed  the  European 
navigation  round  the  world  belongs  indisputably  to 
him,  in  consequence  of  his  sailing  in  a  westerly  route 
beyond  the  meridian  of  the  Moluccas,  which  had 
been  visited  from  the  opposite  quarter. 

The  disaster  of  the  Spaniards  entirely  lost  them  the 
confidence  of  the  king  of  Zebu,  who  now  sought  only  an 
occasion  to  get  rid  of  his  guests.  He  treacherously  in- 
vited them  to  a  feast,  and  when  they  were  suspecting 
nothing,  the  Indians  fell  upon  them  and  massacred 
half  their  number.  The  remainder  made  their 
escape,  and  pursued  their  voyage  to  the  west.  They 
visited  many  small  islands,  and  on  the  8th  of  July 
reached  Borneo.  The  ships  cast  anchor  in  a  port 


168      VOYAGES    AND   DISCOVERIES   OF   MAGELLAN. 

about  three  leagues  from  the  city  of  this  name,  and 
the  next  morning  three  boats  with  their  prows  carved 
in  imitation  of  serpents'  heads  and  gilt,  came  toward 
them  with  trumpets,  drums,  and  other  loud  music. 
The  people  saluted  the  Spaniards  by  taking  off  their 
silken  caps,  and  the  latter  welcomed  them  with  a 
salute:  presents  were  interchanged, and  the  Spaniards 
were  invited  to  visit  the  king.  Seven  of  them  went 
on  shore.  They  were  received  by  a  large  body  of 
men,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  sabres,  shields 
and  breast-plates  of  tortoise-shell.  An  elephant  was 
brought  to  the  landing-place,  on  whose  back  was 
fixed  a  wooden  castle  with  six  armed  men.  The  ele- 
phant stooped  to  admit  the  strangers,  and  they  were 
carried  to  the  king,  who,  having  satisfied  his  curiosity, 
dismissed  them  with  a  present.  The  town  appeared 
to  contain  about  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants ;  and 
the  houses  were  built  on  piles  standing  high  out  of 
the  water.  The  king's  house  was  of  stone,  and 
surrounded  by  a  brick  wall,  on  which  were  mounted 
above  sixty  pieces  of  cannon,  principally  of  brass. 

The  country  appeared  exceedingly  fertile,  producing 
rice,  sugar,  ginger,  camphor,  mirabolans,  wax,  gum, 
and  a  great  variety  of  fruits.  The  inhabitants  pos- 
sessed elephants,  camels,  horses,  buffaloes,  asses, 
sheep,  goats,  geese,  poultry,  &c.  They  appeared  to  be 
rich  in  gold,  pearls  and  jewels.  They  manufactured 
porcelain  of  a  light  colored  earth,  which  they  buried 
under  ground  for  fifty  years ;  so  that  it  was  proverbial 
among  them  that  they  made  porcelain  not  for  them- 
selves but  for  their  posterity.  They  were  acquainted 
with  letters,  and  wrote  on  bark.  All  these  particulars 


VOYAGES    AND   DISCOVERIES    OF    MAGELLAN.       169 

are  the  more  interesting  from  the  fact  that  the  island 
of  Borneo  is  little  better  known  in  Europe  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  than  it  was  three  centuries  ago. 

Notwithstanding  their  friendly  reception,  the  Span- 
iards were  soon  involved  in  hostilities  with  the  natives, 
and  shortly  after  left  the  place.  The  narrative  of  the 
voyage  now  begins  to  deal  in  the  marvellous.  At  a 
certain  island  they  found  crocodiles  and  wild  boars, 
and  a  tree,  the  leaves  of  which  were  animated  even 
when  they  fell  off;  they  were  shaped  like  mulberry 
leaves,  but  longer ;  the  petals  were  short  and  pointed, 
and  on  each  side  there  grew  two  short  feet.  These 
leaf-animals  shrunk  from  the  touch.  Such  is  the 
relation  of  one  of  the  voyagers,  Pigafetta,  who  assures, 
us  that  he  kept  one  of  them  in  a  box  for  the  space  of 
nine  days,  and  when  the  lid  was  taken  off,  it  trotted 
all  round  the  box,  and  he  was  of  opinion  that  it  lived 
upon  air.  One  part  of  the  story  is  doubtless  as  cor- 
rect as  the  other.  We  may  add  to  this  the  account 
of  two  extraordinary  pearls  belonging  to  the  -king  of 
Zolo,  which  "  were  as  large  as  hen's  eggs,  and  so  per- 
fectly round,  that  when  placed  on  a  smooth  level  table, 
they  were  never  at  rest." 

In  November,  1521,  they  reached  the  Moluccas, 
where  they  were  well  received  by  the  "  king  of 
Tidore."  They  traded  here  for  spices,  and  after  a 
stay  of  a  month  or  two,  one  of  the  ships  set  sail  for 
home ;  the  other,  being  damaged,  was  left  behind.  The 
Molucca  pilots  excited  their  wonder  by  marvellous 
stories  of  the  people  in  that  neighborhood.  Some  of 
them,  according  to  their  account,  had  ears  so  large  that 
one  of  them  served  for  a  mattress  to  sleep  on,  and  the 
xvin, — 15 


170      VOYAGES    AND   DISCOVERIES    OF    MAGELLAN. 

other  for  a  coverlid.  It  does  not  appear  whether  the 
voyagers  were  so  long-eared  as  to  believe  this,  or  an- 
other story  of  a  tree  on  whose  branches  perched  birds 
large  enough  to  pounce  upon  buffaloes  and  elephants, 
and  carry  them  away  through  the  air.  The  Spaniards 
now  made  the  best  of  their  way  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  In  doubling  that  point  they  suffered  great  hard- 
ships ;  head  winds  kept  them  in  the  neighborhood  of. 
the  Cape  for  nine  weeks ;  their  ship  was  leaky,  their 
provisions  ran  short,  and  they  lost  of  Spaniards  and 
Indians  twenty-one  men.  At  length,  after  passing 
through  additional  dangers  and  adventures,  they  arriv- 
ed at  San  Lucar,  the  port  from  which  they  had  de- 
parted, on  the  6th  of  September,  1522,  after  an  absence 
of  a  little  less  than  three  years. 

Thus  was  accomplished  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
and  eventful  voyages  ever  undertaken.  The  Victoria, 
as  the  admiral's  ship  was  called,  was  the  first  vessel 
that  sailed  completely  round  the  globe,  and  Fernando 
Magellan  was  the  individual  whose  enterprise  and 
perseverance  first  practically  demonstrated  the  orbicu- 
lar form  of  our  planet.  While  the  advancement  of 
science  shall  continue  to  interest  mankind,  the  name 
of  this  courageous  navigator  will  not  cease  to  be 
remembered  with  admiration  and  gratitude.  In  honor 
of  the  great  discoverer,  some  geographical  writers 
have  proposed  to  call  that  great  expanse  of  sea  which 
he  was  the  first  to  cross,  the  MAGELLANIC  OCEAN, 
instead  of  the  PACIFIC,  but  this  attempt  to  change  a 
long-established  name  does  not  appear  likely  to  prove 
successful. 


VOYAGE  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE.        171 


VOYAGE  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE. 

THE  celebrated  voyage  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  into 
the  South  Sea,  has  been  a  subject  of  much  contro- 
versy in  regard  to  the  justice  of  its  object.  Eng- 
land and  Spain  were  at  peace,  yet  Drake's  expedi- 
tion was  fitted  out  for  the  express  purpose  of  commit- 
ting depredations  upon  the  Spanish  commerce  and 
settlements  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  true  that 
Drake  had  on  a  former  occasion  received  some  inju- 
ries from  the  Spaniards,  he  having  been  one  of  the 
companions  of  Sir  John  Hawkins,  in  his  expedition  to 
San  Juan  de  Ulua  in  1567 ;  but  he  had  subsequently 
made  himself  some  amends  by  reprisals  upon  them. 
Drake,  however,  had  with  his  own  eyes  seen  that  great 
object  of  men's  ambition,  the  South  Sea,  and  the  golden 
dreams  which  the  sight  presented  to  his  imagination, 
were  a  stimulant  not  easily  to  be  resisted  by  a  man 
of  his  enterprising  and  adventurous  spirit. 

Notwithstanding  the  piratical  character  of  this  un- 
dertaking, it  was  connived  at,  if  not  patronized,  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  whatever  blame  on  account  of 
it  rests  upon  the  shoulders  of  Drake,  is  shared  equally 
by  his  sovereign.  The  vessels  employed  belonged  to 
private  individuals;  they  were  five  in  number,  the 
largest  was  only  100  tons'  burthen,  and  the  smallest 
was  but  a  pinnace  of  15  tons.  They  carried  164  men, 
and  were  furnished  with  arms  and  stores  for  a  long 
voyage,  together  with  the  frames  of  four  pinnaces  in 
separate  pieces,  to  be  put  together  as  occasion  might 
require.  During  the  outfit,  pains  were  taken  to  con- 


172       VOYAGE  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE. 

ceal  their  destination,  and  it  was  given  out  that  they 
were  bound  for  Alexandria.  The  smallness  of  this 
force  for  an  enterprise  of  such  magnitude,  is  not  so 
extraordinary  as  the  fact  that  a  navigation,  which  on 
account  of  its  difficulties  and  dangers,  had  been  for 
many  years  discontinued,  should  be  undertaken  in  ves- 
sels so  diminutive.  Scarcely  had  they  got  to  sea  on 
the  15th  of  November,  1577,  when  they  were  over- 
taken by  a  violent  gale,  which  compelled  two  of  them 
to  cut  away  their  masts  and  return  to  port.  Having 
re-fitted  they  set  sail  from  Plymouth  a  second  time  on 
the  13th  of  December.  The  crews,  it  would  appear, 
knew  nothing  of  their  destination ;  for  as  soon  as  they 
were  out  of  sight  of  land,  the  commander  appointed 
as  a  place  of  rendezvous,  in  case  the  fleet  should  be 
separated,  the  island  of  Mogadore  on  the  coast  of  Mo- 
rocco, by  which  the  crews  began  to  conjecture  that 
they  were  bound  for  the  South  Sea. 

Having  touched  on  the  coast  of  Barbary  and  at  the 
Cape  Verde  Islands,  Drake  steered  across  the  Atlan- 
tic, and  in  May,  1578,  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Patago- 
nia. Some  of  the  natives  were  seen,  and  the  English 
made  signs  to  them  by  waving  a  white  cloth.  They 
answered  by  gestures  and  speech,  but  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance. In  a  rocky  place  on  the  shore,  were  found 
above  fifty  ostriches,  besides  other  birds,  dried  or  dry- 
ing for  provisions.  The  thighs  of  the  ostriches  were 
equal  in  size  to  "  reasonable  legs  of  mutton."  These 
provisions  with  a  bag  containing  small  stones  of  vari- 
ous colors,  the  English  carried  on  board  the  ships. 
The  natives  afterwards  became  familiar  and  friendly, 
and  the  English  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  their 


VOYAGE  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE.  173 

manner  of  hunting  the  ostriches.  They  decoyed  them 
with  bunches  of  feathers  fixed  on  the  end  of  a  staff, 
the  fore  part  being  made  to  resemble  the  head  and 
neck  of  an  ostrich,  behind  which  they  hid  themselves 
and  moved  towards  their  game  till  they  could  manage 
to  drive  or  allure  them  within  some  neck  of  land  near 
the  sea-side,  across  which  they  spread  large  and  strong 
nets  to  prevent  their  return,  and  then  set  their  dogs 
upon  them. 

At  Port  San  Julian,  Drake  caused  Thomas  Dough- 
tie,  the  gunner  of  his  ship,  to  be  tried  and  put  to  death, 
on  a  charge  of  conspiracy.  This  occurrence  has  been 
left  much  in  the  dark  by  all  the  original  narrators  of 
the  voyage,  and  it  is  considered  as  having  affixed  a 
stain  upon  the  memory  of  the  commander.  One  of 
the  ships  being  found  unserviceable,  was  broken  up 
on  the  coast  of  Patagonia.  The  remainder  entered 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  reached  the  South  Sea  on 
the  6th  of  September.  They  coasted  the  American 
shore,  and  put  into  the  island  of  Mocha,  where  a 
watering  party  from  the  ships  fell  into  an  ambuscade 
of  the  Indians,  and  they  were  obliged  to  leave  the  place. 
Sailing  farther  onward,  they  came  to  the  Bay  of  Val- 
paraiso, where  they  made  prize  of  a  Spanish  ship 
laden  with  Chili  wine  and  other  merchandize,  together 
with  60,000  dollars  in  gold,  besides  a  quantity  of  jew- 
els. They  also  plundered  the  town,  and  stripped  the 
church  of  its  silver  ornaments.  Farther  to  the  north 
they  landed  at  a  place  called  Tarapaca,  arid  while  they 
were  looking  about  for  water,  they  discovered  a  Span- 
iard lying  on  the  ground  asleep,  and  near  him  thirteen 
bars  of  silver  of  the  value  of  4000  ducats,  which  they 
15* 


174       VOYAGE  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE. 

did  not  scruple  to  take.  A  small  distance  from  this 
spot,  they  again  landed,  and  met  a  Spaniard  and  an 
Indian  driving  eight  llamas,  each  laden  with  a  hun- 
dred pounds'  weight  of  silver.  The  English  seized 
both  beasts  and  treasures,  and  conducted  them  to  their 
boat. 

On  the  7th  of  February,  1579,  they  arrived  at 
Arica,  where  two  Spanish  ships  were  lying  at  anchor, 
from  one  of  which  they  took  above  forty  bars  of  silver, 
"  of  the  bigness  and  fashion  of  brickbats," — in  weight 
about  twenty  pounds  each ;  and  from  the  other,  200 
jars  of  wine.  The  next  morning  they  sailed  in  pur- 
suit of  a  ship  which  they  were  informed  was  not  far 
before  them,  and  richly  laden.  They  found  her  at 
Arequipa,  lying  at  anchor,  but  she  had  received 
notice  of  the  arrival  of  the  English  on  the  coast  in 
sufficient  season  to  land  800  bars  of  silver.  This  ves- 
sel and  two  others  of  their  prizes  they  discharged  here, 
by  first  setting  all  their  sails,  and  then  putting  them 
before  the  wind  with  no  person  on  board.  Proceeding 
northward,  they  reached  Callao,  the  port  of  Lima, 
where  they,  found  a  dozen  ships,  but  little  plunder. 
They  gained  intelligence,  however,  that  a  ship  called 
the  Cacafuego,  laden  with  treasure,  had  sailed  a  few 
days  previous  for  Panama. 

Drake  ordered  all  the  ships  in  the  port  to  be  disa- 
bled that  they  might  not  pursue  him,  and  then  sailed 
in  chase  of  the  Cacafuego.  On  the  cruise  he  cap- 
tured a  ship  laden  with  cordage  and  ship's  stores,  and 
on  board  of  which  the  English  found  eighty  pounds' 
weight  of  gold,  and  some  other  treasure.  On  the  first 
of  March,  off  Cape  San  Francisco,  they  came  up  with 


VOYAGE    OF    SIR    FRANCIS    DRAKE.  175 

the  object  of  their  pursuit,  which  they  captured  with- 
out any  difficulty.  They  found  on  board  of  her  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  stones,  to  the  value  of  730,000 
dollars,  all  which  was  transferred  to  the  admiral's 
ship;  the  other  vessels  having  been  for  some  time 
separated  from  him.  They  had  now  accomplished 
the  main  purpose  of  their  expedition,  and  their 
thoughts  began  to  tend  homeward.  But  the  season 
was  unfavorable  for  the  passage  round  Cape  Horn  ; 
and  there  was  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  Spaniards 
would  station  ships  there  to  intercept  them  on  their 
return. 

Drake,  therefore,  resolved  to  attempt  the  discovery 
of  a  passage  to  the  Atlantic  round  the  northern  parts 
of  America.  He  accordingly  steered  in  that  direction 
along  the  coast,  and  made  prize  of  several  vessels  on 
the  way.  By  the  4th  of  June  they  had  reached  the 
42d  parallel  of  latitude,  where  they  found  the  weather 
excessively  cold,  and  two  degrees  further,  their  meat 
was  frozen  as  soon  as  removed  from  the  fire.  They 
coasted  along  to  the  4Sth  degree,  and  found  all  the  hills 
covered  with  snow.  This  description  of  the  western 
coast  of  America  by  no  means  agrees  with  the  present 
state  of  the  climate  in  that  quarter. 

The  English  held  intercourse  with  the  natives,  and 
one  of  the  chiefs  in  the  course  of  a  ceremony  placed  a 
cap  of  feathers  on  the  head  of  the  admiral,  which  the 
English  interpreted  to  mean  that  he  had  invested  their 
commander  with  the  insignia  of  royalty,  and  that  the 
natives  had  "  with  true  meaning  and  intent,"  resigned 
to  him  their  right  and  title  to  the  whole  country,  and 
made  themselves  and  their  posterity  his  vassals ! 


176       VOYAGE  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE. 

The  summer  was  now  thought  too  far  advanced  for 
pursuing  the  original  plan,  and  the  wind  blew  strongly 
from  the  north-west ;  for  which  reasons  the  design  of 
seeking  a  passage  to  Europe  to  the  north  of  America, 
was  given  up ;  and  it  was  determined  to  quit  the 
American  coast  and  steer  for  the  Molucca  Islands. 
Drake,  therefore,  shaped  his  course  westerly,  and 
sailed  sixty-eight  days  without  seeing  land.  On  the 
30th  of  September  he  fell  in  with  some  islands  which 
appear  to  have  been  the  Philippines  or  some  group  in 
the  neighborhood.  The  inhabitants  showed  a  thievish 
disposition,  and  the  English  held  little  intercourse 
with  them.  November  30,  they  arrived  at  Ternate, 
one  of  the  Moluccas,  where  they  were  received  in  a 
very  friendly  manner.  They  remained  in  this  quarter 
till  the  12th  of  December  taking  in  spices,  and  then 
set  sail  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

On  the  9th  of  January,  while  going  under  full  sail 
in  the  evening,  the  ship  suddenly  struck  upon  a  rock. 
They  threw  overboard  three  tons  of  cloves,  eight  of 
their  guns,  and  other  articles  to  lighten  her,  but  with- 
out effect.  At  only  a  boat's  length  from  the  ship,  no 
bottom  could  be  found  with  all  their  lines,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  lay  out  an  anchor  to  heave  her  off.  The 
destruction  of  the  ship  appeared  inevitable,  and  every 
man  resigned  himself  to  his  fate.  But  when  they 
least  expected  it,  in  the  afternoon  at  low  water,  the 
wind  suddenly  died  away,  which  caused  the  ship  to 
fall  off  toward  the  deep  water,  by  which  movement 
she  was  again  set  afloat  without  any  injury.  The 
remainder  of  the  voyage  offers  nothing  worthy  of 


VOYAGE    OF    SIR    FRANCIS    DRAKE.  177 

record  here.  The  expedition  arrived  safely  at  Ply- 
mouth on  the  25th  of  September,  15SO. 

Drake  immediately  repaired  to  court,  and  was  gra- 
ciously received  by  the  queen ;  but  she  commanded 
that  the  treasure  which  he  had  brought  home  should 
be  put  under  sequestration,  that  if  any  demands  were 
made  by  the  Spaniards  which  it  should  be  deemed 
expedient  to  satisfy,  the  means  might  be  at  hand.  In 
fact,  the  English  were  compelled  to  restore  a  part  of 
this  plunder,  but  the  remainder  appears  to  have  been 
divided  among  the  captors.  The  queen,  to  show  her 
approbation  of  Drake's  enterprise,  dined  on  board  his 
ship  at  Deptford,  and  conferred  upon  him  the  honor 
of  knighthood.  The  ship  was  preserved  with  great 
care  for  many  years,  and  when  at  length  she  was 
quite  decayed  and  broken  up,  a  chair  was  made  of 
one  of  her  planks,  and  presented  to  the  University  of 
Oxford. 

The  conduct  of  Drake  in  this  expedition  is  in  many 
instances  worthy  of  commendation.  Among  the 
praises  which  are  due  to  him,  the  humanity  wkh 
which  he  treated  the  Indians  is  not  the  least.  To 
strangers,  in  general  his  behavior  was  affable  and 
hospitable ;  towards  the  savages,  his  forbearance, 
and  the  various  instances  of  his  kindness,  were  the 
spontaneous  effects  of  genuine  good  will.  The  pur- 
poses of  discovery,  or  the  advancement  of  science, 
were  not  among  the  motives  of  his  voyage ;  but  his 
running  along  the  coast  of  North  America  to  the 
height  of  48  degrees,  and  endeavoring  on  that  side  to 
find  a  passage  into  the  Atlantic,  must  be  regarded  as 
a  strong  proof  of  his  skill  and  enterprise. 


178       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 

VOYAGES   OF  THE    ENGLISH   TO- 
WARD  THE   NORTH   POLE. 


FROM  the  period  of  the  discovery  of  America,  and 
the  advance  of  the  English  to  maritime  greatness, 
their  views  appear  to  have  been  steadily  and  zealously 
directed  toward  the  discovery  of  a  northern  passage  to 
India.  In  this  attempt  many  of  their  most  celebrated 
navigators  acquired  their  glory.  As  soon  as  Cabot, 
Verazzani  and  Cortereal  had  ascertained  the  continuity 
of  the  American  coast  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the 
borders  of  the  Arctic  Circle,  there  seemed,  indeed, 
little  ground  to  anticipate  any  very  practicable  north- 
ern route  to  the  eastern  world.  Yet  it  is  possible  that 
even  the  hardihood  of  the,  undertaking  conspired  with 
the  greatness  of  the  object  to  which  it  related,  to 
make  it  attractive  in  the  eyes  of  a  people  to  whom 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH.       179 

such  enterprises  are  congenial.  The  naval  energy,  the 
spirit  of  enterprise,  the  love  of  knowledge  and  adven- 
ture for  which  the  English  have  been  distinguished, 
have  been  greatly  owing  to  the  severe  struggles  which 
they  have  so  long  maintained  with  the  tempests  and 
the  snows  of  the  north. 

The  first  expedition  of  the  Cabots,  like  that  of  Co- 
lumbus, had  for  its  object,  the  western  passage  to  India. 
After  discovering  Newfoundland,  they  sailed  a  consid- 
erable distance  first  to  the  north  and  then  to  the  south, 
in  hopes  of  finding  an  open  sea  leading  westward, — but 
in  vain.  Not  long  afterward,  the  Cortereals,  from  Por- 
tugal, made  a  similar  attempt ;  they  sailed  along  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  to  which  they  first  gave  that  name, 
and  they  seem  to  have  visited,  or  at  least  looked  into, 
some  of  the  passages  leading  into  Hudson's  Bay  ;  but 
they  accomplished  nothing  more.  The  search  by  the 
English  after  a  north-west  passage  did  not  commence 
seriously  till  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  This  princess 
however,  unless  when  inspired  by  the  hope  of  solid 
and  immediate  profit,  was  not  apt  to  lavish  her  treas- 
ures. It  was  with  Martin  Frobisher  that  the  plan  of 
the  expedition  originated ;  and  he  spent  fifteen  years 
in  soliciting,  both  in  the  city  and  at  court,  the  means 
of  equipping  two  little  barks  or  rather  boats  of  twenty- 
five  tons  each.  With  this  paltry  craft  he  did  not 
hesitate  in  1576,  to  face  the  tempests  of  the  northern 
seas. 

Frobisher  spent  three  voyages  in  beating  about  the 
northern  passes  leading  into  Hudson's  Bay,  without 
discovering  the  main  entrance  into  that  wide  sea. 
Entangled  in  these  narrow  channels,  always  filled 


180       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 

with  floating  ice,  he  passed  through  a  singular  series 
of  disasters,  and  never  made  any  approach  toward  the 
accomplishment  of  his  favorite  object.  The  zeal  of 
the  adventurers  at  home,  however,  was  kept  up  by 
the  discovery  of  a  species  of  glittering  mineral,  then 
idly  supposed  to  contain  gold.  Under  this  potent  im- 
pulse the  queen,  who  at  first  had  given  only  smiles 
and  courtesy,  provided  for  the  second  voyage  a  stout 
ship  of  a  hundred  tons'  burthen  ;  while  the  third  expe- 
dition, consisting  of  eleven  ships,  carried  out  the 
wooden  materials  of  a  fort,  and  provisions  for  a  perma- 
nent colony  of  a  hundred  persons.  But  this  voyage 
was  the  most  disastrous  of  the  three.  The  vessels 
were  dispersed,  and  the  planks  of  the  future  fort  were 
suspended  from  their  sides  to  defend  them  from  the 
crushing  masses  of  floating  ice.  Every  idea  of  a  set- 
tlement was  abandoned,  and  the  vessels  in  a  shattered 
state,  returned  to  England. 

These  three  fruitless  attempts  produced  a  painful 
disappointment.  But  the  spirit  of  the  nation  again 
revived,  and  in  15S6,  a  company  of  merchant  adven- 
turers sent  out  John  Davis,  who  conducted  three  suc- 
cessive voyages  with  great  discretion.  He  made  it  a 
particular  study  to  conciliate  the  savage  natives,  for 
whose  recreation  he  carried  out  a  band  of  music,  to 
which  his  crew  danced  as  soon  as  any  Esquimaux 
appeared  in  view.  Davis  penetrated  through  the 
broad  strait  which  now  bears  his  name,  and  in  his 
third  voyage  reached  its  widest  expanse,  where  there 
appeared  an  open  sea  stretching  to  the  westward, 
whence  he  returned  full  of  sanguine  hopes.  Three 
failures,  however,  had  again  exhausted  the  patience  of 


ARCTIC    VOYAGES    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  181 

his  patrons :  they  were  heard  to  say,  "  This  Davis  hath 
made  three  voyages ;  why  hath  he  not  found  the  pas- 
sage ? "  and  he  in  vain  solicited  a  fourth  equipment. 

Henry  Hudson  established  a  fame  superior  to  that  of 
any  other  northern  navigator.  He  sought  a  passage  first 
by  the  east,  along  the  north  of  Asia.  Then  he  projected 
a  daring  route  across  the  pole  itself:  and  lastly,  when 
both  these  had  failed,  by  the  old  route  of  the  west. 
Thus  he  accomplished  a  signal  discovery,  by  entering 
that  great  sea,  improperly  called  a  bay,  which  bears 
his  name.  This,'  however,  was  in  his  last  voyage, 
in  1610,  when  the  crew,  stirred  up  to  mutiny  by  a 
youth  whom  he  had  rescued  from  destruction,  turned 
him  adrift  in  a  boat  in  these  inhospitable  seas,  where 
he  doubtless  perished. 

Notwithstanding  the  tragical  issue  of  this  voyage, 
it  opened  a  prospect  too  important  to  be  overlooked 
in  that  enterprising  age.  In  the  following  year  the 
adventurers  sent  forth  Sir  Thomas  Button,  an  officer 
of  merit.  He  entered  Hudson's  Bay,  pushed  directly 
across  its  broad  expanse,  and  believed  himself  in  full 
career  to  the  South  Sea,  when  suddenly  there  ap- 
peared before  him,  a  long,  unbroken  barrier  of  coast, 
which  forbade  all  farther  advance.  He  named  it 
"  Hope  Checked,"  and  returned  after  spending  the 
winter  on  that  shore  afterwards  occupied  by  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company.  The  adventurers,  frustrated  on 
this  side,  now  determined  to  investigate  thoroughly 
the  sea  entered  by  Davis  ;  and  of  which  no  limit  had 
yet  been  reached.  This  task  was  committed  to  Baffin, 
who  was  accounted  the  most  scientific  steersman  of 
the  age.  In  1616,  he  reached  the  northern  shore, 
xvni. — 16 


182      ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 

situated  in  a  very  high  latitude,  and  made  the  com- 
plete circuit  of  that  sea  which  has  since  been  named 
Baffin's  Bay ;  but  it  appeared  to  him  to  be  encircled 
by  a  continuous  range  of  coast,  nowhere  affording  a 
passage  to  any  sea  beyond.  When  he  came  to  Lan- 
caster Sound,  which  was  afterwards  found  to  be  the 
entrance  to  the  Polar  Sea,  his  patience  like  that  of 
Captain  Ross,  two  centuries  afterwards,  seems  to  have 
been  exhausted,  and  unluckily,  at  this  very  point  he 
began  to  despair.  He  gave  this  important  opening  a 
very  cursory  examination,  and  returned  to  England 
declaring  that  the  passage  sought  for  had  no  existence. 
With  Baffin  terminated  the  early  series  of  north-west- 
ern discovery  by  the  English,  which  had  been  main- 
tained with  so  much  courage  and  perseverance  for 
forty  years;  and  the  question  appeared  to  be  now 
settled  in  a  manner  unfavorable  to  the  long-cherished 
hopes  of  the  nation. 

An  obscure  veil  still  hung  over  the  extremities  of 
the  Pacific  and  the  junction  of  the  continents  of  Amer- 
ica and  Asia.  This  was  lifted  by  the  exploratory 
genius  of  Cook.  A  premature  fate  indeed  arrested 
that  great  navigator  in  the  career  of  discovery ;  but  he, 
and  Captain  Clerke,  who  followed  in  the  path  marked 
out  by  him,  saw  the  two  continents  separated  by 
Behring's  Straits,  and  America  stretching  to  the  north 
and  east.  This  voyage,  by  disclosing  the  immense 
breadth  of  the  American  continent  in  this  latitude, 
made  the  hopes  of  a  western  passage  darker  than 
ever.  That  continent  had  hitherto  been  regarded  as 
terminating  to  the  north  in  a  point  or  cape,  after  pass- 
ing which  the  navigator  would  find  himself  at  once  in 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH.       183 

the  South  Sea,  and  in  full  sail  to  China  and  Japan. 
Now,  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  there  was 
found  to  intervene  a  space  of  nearly  three  thousand 
miles.  Geographers,  viewing  the  coast  running 
northward  from  Behring's  Straits  and  Hudson's  and 
Baffin's  Bays,  all  enclosed  by  land,  constructed  their 
maps  under  the  impression  that  an  unbroken  mass  of 
land  reached  onward  to  the  pole,  and  that  all  these 
regions  were  forever  barred  against  the  navigator. 

But  a  new  light  broke  in  suddenly  from  an  opposite 
quarter.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  formed  a 
settlement  with  a  view  to  the  traffic  in  furs,  for  which 
this  otherwise  uninviting  region  afforded  ample  scope. 
They  were  bound  by  their  charter  to  use  their  utmost 
effort  for  the  discovery  of  the  north-west  passage,  but 
it  has  been  affirmed  that  their  most  strenuous  exer- 
tions were  directed  to  the  prevention  of  any  such 
result.  They  could  not,  however,  prevent  some  efforts 
being  made.  Mr.  Hearne,  in  1769,  followed  north- 
ward the  course  of  a  river  now  bearing  his  name,  till 
at  a  point  then  supposed  to  be  in  the  inland  depths  of 
America,  he  came  to  the  sea.  Mackenzie,  an  agent 
of  the  Northwest  Company  at  Montreal,  afterwards 
proceeded  in  the  same  direction  to  a  point  twenty  de- 
grees farther  west,  where  he  followed  another  river 
also  to  the  sea.  This  double  discovery  gave  an 
entirely  new  aspect  to  the  geography  of  Northern 
America.  It  now  became  probable,  that,  instead  of 
unbroken  lands  stretching  into  the  depths  of  the  Polar 
regions,  there  was  a  continuous  ocean  bounding  it  at  a 
latitude  which  did  not  absolutely  preclude  the  hopes 
of  an  open  and  regular  passage. 


184      ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 

These  important  observations,  however,  did  not  take 
immediate  effect  on  the  public.  They  seem,  on  the 
contrary,  to  have  lain  dormant,  silently  fermenting  in 
minds  which  meditated  on  these  subjects,  till,  early  in 
the  present  century,  that  remarkable  exploratory  zeal 
arose  in  England,  of  which  the  effects  have  been  so 
important.  Mr.  Barrow,  himself  eminent  as  a  travel- 
ler, gave  the  first  impulse  both  to  the  nation  and  the 
government,  which  embarked  in  this  career  with  a 
steadiness,  judgment,  and  above  all,  an  inflexible  perse- 
verance, of  which  there  is  no  former  example.  Africa 
was  the  first  theatre,  bul  the  northern  seas,  which 
Scoresby  had  already  made  an  object  of  interest,  soon 
attracted  equal  attention:  This  led  to  a  series  of  en- 
terprises which  have  remarkably  enlarged  our  ideas 
of  the  geography  of  that  part  of  the  globe. 

The  first  of  the  series  was  designed,  under  the  con- 
duct of  Captain  Ross,  to  make  the  circuit  of  Baffin's 
Bay,  and  look  more  narrowly  than  that  navigator  was 
suspected  to  have  done,  into  every  sound  and  inlet 
which  could  afford  an  entrance  either  into  the  Pacific,  or 
the  grand  Polar  basin.  Captain  Ross  was  an  officer  of 
merit,  yet  he  was  not  altogether  of  that  pushing  and 
adventurous  disposition  which  is  requisite  to  find  or 
force  a  way  through  these  mighty  barriers.  He  made 
the  circuit  of  these  shores  like  a  skilful  navigator,  and 
brought  a  report  confirming  all  the  observations  of 
Baffin,  and  coming  to  the  same  conclusion,  that  there 
was  a  bay  only,  affording  no  further  passage.  He 
had  indeed  looked  into  the  wide  entrance  of  Lancaster 
Sound,  but  at  the  distance  of  about  twenty  miles  its 
shores  appeared  to  the  eye  to  meet  and  form  an  en- 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  ENGLISH.        185 

closed  inlet.  But  it  was  believed  that  Ross  had  not 
penetrated  deep  enough  to  form  any  sure  judgment  on 
this  point;  and  Captain  Parry,  the  second  in  com- 
mand, was  of  opinion  that  the  long  sought-for  passage 
would  be  found  here. 

The  views  of  the  British  Admiralty  coincided  en- 
tirely with  those  of  Captain  Parry,  whom  they  imme- 
diately sent  out  with  the  command  of  a  fresh  expedi- 
tion in  1821.  The  result  was  the  most  brilliant  suc- 
cess ;  Parry  found  all  his  predictions  fulfilled,  and 
through  Lancaster  Sound  penetrated  into  the  grand 
basin  of  the  Polar  sea.  Here  he  coasted  along,  not 
the  continent  of  America,  but  ranges  of  large  islands 
which  narrowed  the  sea  through  which  he  sailed,  into 
a  sort  of  broad  strait,  communicating  by  inlets  with 
the  sea  beyond.  These  inlets  were  so  blocked  up 
with  ice  setting  in  from  the  westward,  that  Captain  Parry 
in  the  course  of  two  seasons  vainly  attempted  to  make 
his  way  through  them,  and  was  compelled  to  return 
with  only  the  glory  acquired  by  having  penetrated  so 
much  farther  than  any  former  navigator. 

The  Polar  basin  having  thus  been  ascertained  to 
exist ;  another  voyage  was  planned  with  the  view  of 
entering  it  by  a  different  approach.  Hudson's  Bay 
had  not  yet  been  fully  explored.  Parry  undertook 
the  adventure,  and  in  August  arrived  at  the  Frozen 
Strait,  which  had  arrested  Middleton  in  his  voyage. 
He  worked  his  way  through  it,  and  proceeded  to  the 
examination  of  the  coasts  beyond.  He  was  soon  inter- 
rupted by  the  setting  in  of  the  Arctic  winter,  and  with 
some  difficulty  his  crews  sawed  their  way  through 
the  ice  to  a  station  in  which  the  ships  could  pass  that 
16* 


186       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

rigorous  season  in  safety.  Next  summer  they  pro- 
ceeded northward  along  a  large  mass  of  land,  in  the 
latitude  of  68°,  which  they  named  Melville  Peninsula. 
At  last  they  arrived  at  a  strait,  which  by  land  surveys 
was  found  to  lead  into  the  wide  and  open  basin  of  the 
Polar  sea ;  but  it  was  so  blocked  up  by  ice  driven 
into  it  by  the  western  currents,  that  every  attempt  to 
penetrate  it  was  wholly  abortive.  Parry  was  sent  out 
a  third  time,  on  his  first  line  of  discovery,  to  make 
trial  of  a  broad  channel  leading  to  the  south,  but  this 
voyage  failed,  less  from  any  absolute  barrier  opposed 
by  nature,  than  from  the  loss  of  one  of  the  ships 
which  was  so  crushed  by  the  ice,  that  it  was  necessary 
to  abandon  her.  A  fourth  expedition  was  undertaken 
by  Parry,  in  1827,  for  the  purpose  of  travelling  over 
the  frozen  surface  of  the  ocean,  direct  to  the  North 
Pole.  They  arrived  within  eight  degrees  of  the  Pole, 
the  highest  northern  latitude  probably  ever  attained 
by  man,  but  in  consequence  of  the  drifting  of  the  ice 
to  the  south,  their  progress  was  checked,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  the  enterprise  was  defeated.  Subsequent  ex- 
peditions have  been  sent  to  this  region,  and  it  is  now 
fully  ascertained,  that  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  are 
united  by  a  passage  to  the  north  of  our  continent. 


VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH  TOWARD 
THE  NORTH  POLE. 

THE  first  attempts  to  discover  a  north-eastern  pas- 
sage to  India,  around  the  northern  parts  of  Russia, 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.      187 

were  made  by  the  English.  An  expedition  under 
Sir  Hugh  Willoughby,  sailed  from  London  in  1553. 
They  doubled  the  North  Cape,  and  coasted  along  the 
country  for  some  distance  beyond.  The  fleet  consist- 
ed of  three  ships.  Two  of  them  put  into  the  harbor 
of  Arzina  in  Lapland,  in  September,  and  were  after- 
wards found  by  the  Russian  fishermen  with  the  un- 
fortunate crews  all  frozen  to  death.  The  other  ship, 
commanded  by  Richard  Chancelor,  reached  the  White 
Sea,  where  Chancelor  landed,  and  travelled  to  Mos- 
cow. The  Czar  treated  him  with  kindness  and  dis- 
tinction, and  in  consequence  of  this  discovery  or  first 
accomplishment  of  the  route  by  sea  from  the  Atlantic 
to  Archangel,  he  granted  large  and  extensive  privi- 
leges to  the  English  nation,  which  were  enjoyed  many 
years  by  the  Btiglish  Russian  Company.  Three 
years  afterwards,  Stephen  Burrough,  an  Englishman, 
passed  through  the  strait  of  Waigatz,  between  the 
continent  and  Nova  Zembla,  which  was  then  well 
known  to  the  Russians;  but  the  discoveries  of  the 
English  were  not  prosecuted  any  further  in  this  quar- 
ter. 

The  next  attempts  worthy  of  notice  were  made  by 
the  Dutch,  in  a  series  of  voyages  undertaken  in  three 
successive  years.  The  merchants  of  Holland  deter- 
mined to  participate  in  the  advantages  of  a  direct  trade 
with  India,  which  the  nations  of  Europe  had  hitherto 
left  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese.  The  passage  to  India  by  the  north-east 
appeared  greatly  preferable  to  that  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  as  in  addition  to  the  shortness  of  the  route, 
should  it  be  found  practicable,  there  would  be  no  dan- 


188       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

ger  of  meeting  their  rivals  in  the  trade,  which  at  the 
commencement  of  the  undertaking  it  was  highly  de- 
sirable to  avoid.  Permission  to  discover  a  way  to 
India  by  Nova  Zembla,  and  along  the  coasts  of  Tar- 
tary,  was  readily  obtained  of  the  States  General,  who 
took  so  great  an  interest  in  the  enterprise,  that  they 
promised  a  gratuity  of  25,000  florins  to  any  persons 
who  should  successfully  accomplish  the  voyage,  and 
also  special  privileges  of  trade  for  eight  years. 

The  first  expedition  was  undertaken  by  three 
ships,  and  a  fishing  bark,  under  the  command  of 
Nay,  Linschoten,  and  William  Barentz,  the  latter  of 
whom  was  a  seaman  of  great  reputation.  They  sailed 
from  the  Texel  in  June,  1594,  and  arrived  on  the 
coast  of  Lapland  where  they  separated.  Barentz  ex- 
plored the  western  side  of  Nova  Zembla ;  the  others 
proceeded  through  the  Straits  of  Waigatz,  about  40 
leagues  to  the  eastward,  when  finding  the  sea  clear 
and  every  prospect  of  a  passage,  as  they  thought  to 
India,  instead  of  pursuing  the  discovery,  they  returned 
to  Holland  to  publish  the  news  of  the  happy  probabil- 
ity !  Barentz  sailed  as  far  north  as  the  extremity  of 
Nova  Zembla,  which  he  named  Ys  Hoek,  or  Ice  Cape. 
But  vast  impenetrable  bodies  of  ice  hindered  him  from 
ascending  any  farther. 

Another  expedition  of  seven  ships  was  despatched 
in  the  same  direction,  but  with  no  better  success.  A 
third  attempt  was  made  in  1596,  which  though  un- 
successful in  the  main  object  of  the  undertaking,  ex- 
hibits such  a  degree  of  courage,  perseverance  and 
fortitude  in  the  crew,  and  was  attended  by  so  many 
adventures  and  extraordinary  sufferings,  that  we  shall 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.        189 

offer  some  details  respecting  it,  as  in  all  the  narra- 
tives of  maritime  adventure,  there  is  nothing  which 
surpasses  it  in  interest.  This  expedition  consisted  of 
two  small  vessels,  under  the  command  of  Jacob 
Heemskirk,  and  Cornelius  Ryp,  with  William  Bar- 
entz  for  chief  pilot.  They  sailed  from  Amsterdam  on 
the  18th  of  May,  and  on  the  22d  came  in  sight  of  the 
Shetland  Islands.  Barentz  here  proposed  to  steer  for 
the  Icy  Cape,  but  the  commander  preferred  standing 
further  to  the  north,  in  hopes  of  getting  clear  of  all  the 
known  land  in  that  quarter,  and  finding  a  clear  sea 
which  would  admit  of  their  sailing  to  the  east.  About 
the  latitude  of  74°  they  discovered  an  island  on  which 
they  killed  an  enormous  bear,  from  which  circum- 
stance they  gave  it  the  name  of  Bear  Island.  Steering 
farther  to  the  north,  on  the  17th  of  June  they  discov- 
ered land  in  the  latitude  of  80°.  From  its  general 
appearance  they  bestowed  upon  it  the  name  of  Spitz- 
bergen,  or  "  Sharp-pointed  Mountains."  They  killed 
here  a  white  bear,  whose  skin  measured  13  feet  in 
length.  He  swam  to  the  ships  but  was  driven  off,  and 
endeavoring  to  escape  to  the  shore  was  interrupted  by 
one  of  the  boats,  and  pursued  a  league  out  to  sea.  He 
made  great  resistance  before  he  was  overcome,  and  at 
one  time  laid  his  paw  on  the  boat,  fortunately  at  the 
bow,  for  had  it  been  in  the  middle,  he  would  inevita- 
bly have  overturned  her. 

On  the  23d  of  July,  they  weighed  anchor  and 
attempted  to  stand  to  the  northward,  but  were  so  ob- 
structed by  the  ice,  that  they  were  driven  back  to  Bear 
Island.  Here  they  differed  about  their  future  course. 
Ryp  with  his  vessel  proceeded  to  the  western  coast  of 


190       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

Spitzbergen,  Heemskirk  on  board  of  which  vessel  was 
Barentz,  steered  east,  and  on  the  17th  of  July,  made 
the  land  of  Nova  Zembla.  On  the  9th  of  August, 
while  the  vessel  was  moored  to  the  ice,  the  master, 
who  was  walking  on  deck,  heard  the  breathing  of  an 
animal,  and  immediately  beheld  a  bear  attempting  to 
climb  on  board.  He  cried  "  All  hands  on  deck  !  "  and 
the  crew  hastening  up,  set  up  as  loud  a  shouting  as 
they  could,  by  which  the  bear  was  frightened  for  a 
moment  and  retreated  to  a  little  distance.  But  return- 
ing immediately,  he  ran  furiously  toward  the  vessel,  set 
his  claws  against  her  side,  and  attempted  to  enter. 
In  the  mean  time  the  crew  had  stretched  a  sail  over 
the  upper-works,  and  prepared  their  firelocks.  A 
heavy  snow  was  falling,  so  that  they  could  not  take 
aim  distinctly,  but  they  fired  and  wounded  the  bear, 
who  then  took  to  flight. 

By  the  16th  of  August,  they  had  advanced  no  fur- 
ther than  the  north-eastern  extremity  of  Nova  Zembla. 
Obstacles  now  thickened  in  their  way.  The  coast 
here  took  a  direction  south-easterly,  and  the  sea  at 
first  appeared  open  in  that  quarter,  which  gave  them 
some  hopes  of  a  free  passage,  but  this  delusive  ap- 
pearance was  soon  at  an  end.  The  floating  ice  began 
to  close  around  them,  and  on  the  26th  of  August  they 
,vere  driven  into  a  bay  on  the  north-eastern  coast, 
where  they  soon  found  themselves  fast  locked  up  in 
the  ice,  in  about  the  76th  degree  north  latitude,  with 
the  winter  fast  approaching. 

The  crew  then  held  a  council  and  came  to  a  unani- 
mous conclusion,  that  there  was  no  hope  of  getting 
away  that  winter,  and  that  their  only  resource  was  to 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       191 

build  them  a  hut  and  winter  on  shore.  Luckily, 
although  Nova  Zembla  produces  no  trees,  much  drift 
wood  was  found  upon  the  shore,  which  had  doubtless 
come  from  the  coast  of  Tartary  or  Russia.  They 
immediately  began  to  build  a  hut,  in  which  labor  they 
were  constantly  interrupted  by  the  bears,  whom  they 
kept  away  with  great  difficulty  and  danger.  By  the 
middle  of  September,  the  sea  was  completely  frozen 
over,  but  a  few  days  after,  a  westerly  wind  broke  up 
the  ice  and  made  an  open  sea.  Their  vessel,  how- 
ever, not  being  disengaged,  they  could  only  look  upon 
this  chance  of  escape  with  vexation.  On  the  27th  it 
froze  so  hard  that  one  of  the  crew  being  at  work,  put 
a  nail  in  his  mouth,  and  drawing  it  out,  the  skin  came 
away,  and  blood  followed.  The  cold  soon  became  so 
intense,  that  it  was  only  the  extreme  desire  of  preserv- 
ing life  which  could  have  enabled  them  to  support  the 
hardship  of  their  labor.  On  the  30th  of  September, 
so  much  snow  fell  that  they  were  prevented  from 
going  in  quest  of  wood.  They  made  a  great  fire 
along  the  building  to  thaw  the  earth,  and  raise  a  ram- 
part of  it  around  their  hut,  but  this  was  found  impos- 
sible. 

One  of  the  bears  which  they  had  shot,  they  designed 
to  carry  to  Holland ;  and  accordingly,  they  set  him 
upon  his  legs  at  a  little  distance  from  the  hut, 
where  he  became  frozen  stiff.  One  day  a  sailor  being 
on  shore,  came  suddenly  upon  a  bear.  He  turned 
back  and  fled  in  all  haste  toward  the  vessel.  The 
bear  pursued  him  till  he  arrived  at  the  spot  where  the 
frozen  bear  had  been  placed,  and  who  was  completely 
covered  with  snow  except  one  of  his  paws,  which  was 


192       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

lifted  high  in  the  air.  Here  he  stopped,  gazing  with 
astonishment  at  so  strange  a  sight.  This  enabled  the 
sailor  to  make  his  escape  to  the  vessel ;  but  being  very 
much  frightened,  he  could  utter  nothing  but  the  words 
"  A  bear  !  a  bear  ! "  The  other  sailors  ran  upon  deck, 
but  could  see  nothing  on  account  of  the  smoke  with 
which  the  vessel  was  filled,  while  they  were  shut  up 
in  it.  Fortunately,  the  bear  did  not  wait  till  they  got 
their  eyes  clear,  but  retreated  immediately. 

On  the  llth  of  October  they  began  to  convey  their 
provisions  ashore,  and  took  possession  of  the  hut. 
The  bears  continued  to  annoy  them  while  they  were 
at  this  work,  sometimes  driving  the  sailors  up  the  rig- 
ging, but  they  generally  took  to  flight  at  the  first  shot 
fired  against  them.  The  sun-light  now  began  to 
abandon  them.  On  the  25th  of  October,  three  bears 
suddenly  made  their  appearance  close  to  the  vessel, 
and  ran  toward  the  sailors.  The  master  set  up  a  loud 
shout  to  frighten  them  ;  the  men,  who  were  engaged  in 
hauling  goods  to  the  hut,  threw  down  their  ropes  and 
put  themselves  in  such  a  state  of  defence  as  they 
could ;  but  the  only  weapons  at  hand  were  a  couple 
of  halberts.  The  master  took  one  and  Gerard  de 
Veer  the  other..  The  men  ran  toward  the  vessel,  but 
one  of  them  fell  into  a  chasm  in  the  ice,  which  made 
the  rest  shudder,  as  they  thought  the  bears  would  inev^ 
itably  devour  him.  However,  they  passed  by  him  and 
pursued  the  sailors  to  the  vessel.  Here  they  com- 
menced a  most  furious  attack,  being  kept  at  bay  only 
by  the  two  halberts.  The  men  endeavored  to  divert 
their  attention  by  throwing  pieces  of  wood  and  other 
things  at  their  heads ;  for  they  ran  each  time  a  piece 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       193 

was  thrown,  as  a  dog  runs  after  a  stone.  One  of  the 
sailors  went  into  the  cook-room  to  strike  a  fire,  and 
another  to  seek  for  some  pikes.  But  such  was  the 
trepidation  of  all,  that  no  fire  could  be  kindled,  and  the 
match-locks  were  of  no  use.  The  bears  constantly 
returned  to  the  assault  with  the  utmost  fury ;  but  at 
length  one  of  the  halberts  was  thrown,  which  struck 
the  largest  directly  on  the  mouth,  on  which  he  slowly 
retreated  and  was  followed  by  the  others. 

After  the  sun  had  quitted  the  horizon,  the  moon 
took  its  place  appearing  all  day  and  night  without  set- 
ting when  it  was  in  its  highest  quarter.  By  the  6th 
of  November,  the  day  could  not  be  distinguished  from 
the  night,  and  the  men  lay  a  long  time  in  bed,  knowing 
nothing  of  the  lapse  of  the  hours.  Foxes  now  began 
to  appear  in  great  numbers,  and  they  took  many  of 
them  in  traps.  In  the  latter  part  of  November  there 
fell  so  prodigious  a  quantity  of  snow  that  they  were 
completely  buried  ;  the  storm  lasted  three  days,  and  it 
was  only  after  much  labor  that  they  dug  their  way 
into  the  open  air.  The  snow  covered  even  the  chim- 
ney top,  so  that  they  were  unable  to  cook  any  victuals 
on  account  of  the  smoke.  One  day,  while  in  their 
beds,  they  heard  the  ice  of  the  sea  crack  with  so  hor- 
rible a  noise,  that  they  imagined  the  mountains  of  ice 
which  they  had  seen  during  the  summer,  had  become 
loose  and  were  crushing  against  each  other.  It  now 
froze  so  hard  in  the  hut  that  the  floor  and  walls  were 
coated  with  thick  ice,  and  even  their  beds  were  in  the 
same  condition. 

On  the  6th  of  December,  the  cold  was  so  intense 
that  they  began  to  feel  great  alarm,  believing  them- 

M  XVIII, — 17 


194       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

selves  unable  to  support  their  sufferings  much  longer. 
All  the  fire  they  could  make  was  insufficient  to  warm 
them,  and  they  gazed  upon  each  other  with  looks  of 
despair.  Their  sherry  wine  had  frozen  solid,  and 
they  were  obliged  to  thaw  it  on  the  days  of  distribu- 
tion, which  was  performed  every  other  day,  when  each 
man  had  half  a  pint ;  after  the  wine  was  out,  they  had 
no  drink  but  water,  their  Dantzic  beer  having  been 
spoilt  by  freezing,  early  in  the  season.  On  the  7th, 
the  intense  cold  continuing,  they  determined  to  fetch 
from  the  vessel  a  quantity  of  the  pit-coal  which  was 
on  board,  thinking  it  would  afford  a  greater  heat  than 
wood.  They  accordingly  made  a  large  fire  of  it  in 
the  hut,  and  felt  much  enlivened  and  relieved  by  the 
warmth  which  it  imparted.  But  within  a  few  hours 
they  all  found  themselves  attacked  with  vertigoes  and 
swimmings  in  the  head,  with  violent  pains.  Not  a 
man  of  them  was  able  to  stand  up ;  but  at  length  one 
person  succeeded  in  crawling  to  the  door  and  opening 
it.  No  sooner  had  he  done  this  than  he  fainted  and 
fell  down  in  the  snow.  One  of  the  company  whose 
head  was  near  to  the  door,  threw  some  vinegar  in  his 
face,  and  brought  him  to  himself.  The  opening  of  the 
door  saved  their  lives,  as  without  this  they  would  all 
soon  have  been  suffocated. 

On  the  9th,  10th,  and  llth  of  December,  the  weather 
was  fine  and  clear,  and  the  sky  bright  with  stars ;  but 
the  cold  had  augmented  to  an  inconceivable  degree. 
The  leather  of  their  shoes  froze  on  their  feet  as  hard 
as  if  it  had  been  horn,  so  that  they  were  of  no  service. 
They  attempted  to  keep  their  feet  warm  by  wearing 
three  or  four  pairs  of  socks,  one  over  another,  outside 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       195 

of  which  they  placed  a  covering  of  sheep-skin.  Their 
clothes  were  now  all  white  with  frost  and  ice,  and  they 
could  not  venture  out  of  doors  without  freezing  their 
faces  and  ears.  Fire  now  seemed  to  cause  no  heat, 
and  when  they  attempted  to  warm  their  feet  by  it, 
their  stockings  were  burnt  without  their  feeling  any 
warmth.  For  several  days  together,  they  were  com- 
pletely snowed  in ;  but  on  the  5th  of  January,  1597, 
they  cleared  the  snow  from  the  door,  and  brought  into 
the  hut  a  fresh  supply  of  wood  for  fuel.  This  being 
Twelfth-day,  they  celebrated  it  by  indulging  in  uncom- 
mon luxury,  and  cooked  some  fritters  with  oil,  which 
they  ate  with  as  good  an  appetite  as  was  ever  pos- 
sessed by  a  burgomaster  of  Amsterdam.  They  even 
went  through  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  feast,  drawing 
tickets  according  to  the  usual  custom,  and  the  gunner 
was  king  of  Nova  Zembla. 

January  13th,  the  weather  was  clear  and  serene, 
and  they  perceived  that  the  feeble  light  of  the  day 
began  to  increase,  for  on  throwing  a  ball  upon  the 
snow  they  perceived  it  to  roll,  which  they  could  not  do 
before.  From  this  time  they  went  abroad  every  day 
and  exercised  themselves  with  walking,  running, 
throwing,  &c.,  in  order  to  revive  their  limbs.  They 
also  remarked  a  degree  of  redness  in  the  horizon,  which 
was  to  them  an  aurora,  or  harbinger  of  the  sun. 
There  were  some  appearances  of  thawing  during  the 
day  inside  their  hut,  but  at  night  it  froze  as  hard 
as  ever.  On  the  26th,  one  of  the  company  who 
had  been  feeble  for  a  long  time,  died;  they  dug  a 
grave  seven  feet  deep  in  the  snow,  where  they  buried 
him. 


196        ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

The  first  seven  days  of  February  were  exceedingly 
stormy,  so  that  they  began  to  despair  again,  for,  trust- 
ing to  the  fine  weather,  they  had  neglected  to  provide 
a  large  stock  of  fuel.  The  hut  was  again  surrounded 
with  great  heaps  of  snow,  and  the  fog  was  thicker 
than  ever.  They  were  compelled  to  go  out  and  in  by 
the  chimney.  The  sun  rose  in  the  S.  S.  E.,  and  set 
in  the  S.  S.  W.  On  the  13th,  while  occupied  in 
putting  their  traps  in  order,  they  saw  a  great  bear 
running  towards  them,  on  which  they  all  fled  to  the 
hut.  One  of  them  fired  at  him  ;  the  ball  struck  the 
bear  in  the  breast,  passed  quite  through  his  body  and 
came  out  near  the  tail ;  it  was  found  afterwards  as  flat 
as  a  half-penny.  The  wounded  bear  made  a  great 
leap  and  retired  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  when  he  fell. 
Those  who  pursued  him  found  him  still  living ;  and 
he  raised  his  head  as  if  to  see  who  had  shot  him.  As 
they  had  already  too  fatally  experienced  the  enormous 
strength  of  those  animals,  they  did  not  trust  to  the 
first  shot,  but  despatched  him  with  two  others.  His 
skin  was  nine  feet  long,  and  seven  wide ;  and  they 
obtained  from  him  above  a  hundred  pounds  of  fat, 
which  enabled  them  to  keep  a  lamp  burning,  a  lux- 
ury they  had  not  enjoyed  for  some  time. 

Their  wood  now  began  to  fail  them,  and  the  wind, 
cold  and  severe,  caused  them  intense  sufferings  for 
many  days.  The  ice  began  to  break  up,  and  by 
the  8th  of  March,  all  the  sea  to  the  north-east 
appeared  to  be  open,  so  that  they  took  courage.  But 
on  the  14th.  a  wind  from  the  E.  N.  E.,  set  in  so  vio- 
lent and  cold,  that  the  sea  was  again  frozen  as  hard  as 
ever.  This  severe  weather  occasioned  those  to  re- 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       197 

lapse  who,  having  been  ill  and  growing  better,  had 
exposed  themselves  during  the  milder  season.  From 
this  day  the  cold  continually  increased,  and  was  even 
greater  and  more  insupportable  than  before.  Such 
unexpected  severity  of  the  weather  dispirited  the  crew, 
and  destroyed  all  their  hopes  of  an  early  thaw. 

During  the  night  of  the  6th  of  April,  a  bear  ap- 
proached the  hut,  and  notwithstanding  their  endeavors 
to  kill  him  with  their  muskets,  they  were  not  able  to 
take  aim  on  account  of  the  darkness  and  the  fog ;  their 
powder,  besides,  was  so  damp  that  the  guns  almost 
always  missed  fire.  The  bear  descended  the  steps  in 
the  snow,  leading  to  the  door,  and  attempted  to  enter; 
but  the  master,  placing  himself  firmly  behind  it, 
kept  it  so  well  closed,  that  the  animal  after  many  at- 
tempts, at  length  retired.  But  in  two  hours  he  returned 
again  and  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  hut,  where  he 
made  so  dreadful  a  roaring  as  to  fill  them  all  with 
terror.  He  then  advanced  toward  the  chimney  and 
made  great  exertions  to  overturn  it.  They  were  now 
in  a  dreadful  alarm,  for  it  appeared  certain  that  he 
would  get  into  the  hut.  But  fortunately,  after  tearing 
the  sail  with  which  the  chimney  was  surrounded,  and 
making  extraordinary  ravages,  he  went  away. 

Again  the  ice  disappeared,  leaving  an  open  sea ;  but 
shortly  after,  a  north-east  wind  brought  it  back  again, 
and  the  weather  once  more  became  dreadfully  cold. 
They  went  down  to  the  shore  and  viewed  the  moun- 
tains of  ice  which  covered  the  sea,  and  which  appeared 
disposed  like  the  houses  of  a  great  city,  with  towers, 
steeples,  domes,  bastions  and  ramparts.  On  the  second 
day  of  May,  a  south-west  wind  cleared  the  sea  of  ice, 
17* 


198       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

so  that  their  hopes  of  a  speedy  departure  for  home 
again  revived.  But  by  this  time  their  best  provisions, 
as  their  meat,  flour,  oatmal,  &c.  were  nearly  exhausted. 
They  had  only  a  supply  of  bacon  for  three  weeks,  at 
the  rate  of  two  ounces  a  day  for  each  man.  The 
bears  which  now  attacked  them  were  more  easily 
driven  away  than  formerly,  appearing  to  have  grown 
comparatively  timid.  The  sun,  when  at  the  lowest, 
was  at  a  considerable  height  above  the  horizon.  Snow 
fell  again  on  the  5th  of  May  in  such  abundance  as  to 
confine  them  to  the  hut ;  and  on  the  20th  and  21st,  a 
north-east  wind  again  covered  the  sea  with  ice. 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  master  ordered  prepara- 
tions to  be  made  for  departure.  On  attempting  to 
remove  the  boat  which  they  had  drawn  on  shore  at 
the  beginning  of  the  winter,  they  found  themselves 
unable  from  weakness,  to  draw  it  over  the  snow. 
They  now  fell  into  the  deepest  despair,  and  imag- 
ined they  were  destined  to  end  their  days  in  that 
frightful  climate.  The  master  endeavored  to  cheer 
them  on  in  their  work,  telling  them  that  unless  they 
were  willing  to  become  citizens  of  Nova  Zembla,  and 
very  soon  to  prepare  their  own  graves  there .  they  must 
recover  the  boat,  as  all  their  hopes  of  escape  depended 
on  it.  While  they  were  repeating  their  attempts  they 
discovered  an  enormous  bear  coming  towards  them. 
They  all  ran  into  the  hut  where  they  waited  at  the 
three  doors  with  their  firelocks,  and  one  of  the  men 
mounted  the  chimney  with  a  musket.  The  bear  ad- 
vanced with  great  fierceness  and  approached  the  de- 
clivity of  the  steps  of  one  of  the  doors,  where  he  was  not 
perceived  by  the  man  on  guard  there,  who  happened 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       199 

to  be  looking  toward  the  other  door.  Those  within 
seeing  the  bear,  cried  out  for  him  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. The  man  turned  his  head,  and  notwithstanding 
the  fright  he  was  in,  he  fired  his  gun ;  the  bear  was 
wounded  and  fled.  This  was  by  far  the  narrowest 
escape  which  they  had  experienced,  and  the  conster- 
nation of  the  people  in  the  hut  was  indescribable,  for 
when  the  man  first  perceived  the  bear,  the  ferocious 
beast  was  within  a  few  feet  of  him,  ready  to  spring 
upon  him.  Had  the  gun  missed  fire,  as  often  hap- 
pened, the  bear  would  have  entered  the  hut  and  de- 
voured them  all  at  his  leisure.  In  the  mean  time  the 
wound  which  he  had  received  prevented  him  from 
going  to  a  great  distance,  and  when  they  perceived 
him  to  stop,  they  ran  after  him  and  despatched  him 
with  their  weapons.  In  his  stomach  were  found  pieces 
of  sea-dogs  entire,  with  their  skin  and  hair  on,  which 
showed  that  they  had  just  been  devoured. 

The  next  day  came  another  bear,  which  they  soon 
killed.  The  following  day  another  made  his  appear- 
ance. It  seemed  as  if  these  animals  had  a  suspicion 
that  their  prey  was  about  leaving  them,  and  that  they 
must  make  the  most  of  their  time.  The  last  bear  forced 
them  to  quit  their  work  and  fly  for  safety  to  the  hut. 
Their  assailant  followed  them,  and  was  received  with 
a  volley  of  three  muskets,  one  from  the  chimney,  and 
the  others  from  the  doors.  The  shots  all  took  effect, 
and  the  bear  was  killed.  But  this  victory  was  near 
costing  them  dear,  for  having  cut  the  beast  in  pieces, 
they  cooked  the  liver  and  ate  it  with  a  keen  appetite, 
which  made  them  all  sick.  Three  of  them  were  very 


200       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

near  dying,  but  recovered  with  the  acquisition  of  a 
new  skin  from  head  to  foot. 

By  the  beginning  of  June,  they  regained  sufficient 
strength  to  drag  their  boat  to  the  sea.  They  were 
still  incommoded  by  violent  storms  of  snow,  hail  and 
rain,  which  last  they  had  not  beheld  for  a  long  time. 
On  the  12th,  while  engaged  in  their  labor,  they  were 
interrupted  by  a  huge  bear,  lean  and  scraggy,  coming 
in  from  the  broad  ocean  on  a  piece  of  ice,  and  which 
they  conjectured  to  have  come  from  Tartary,  because 
they  had  met  with  them  formerly,  at  the  distance  of 
twenty  or  thirty  leagues  from  the  land  in  that  direction. 
As  they  did  not  expect  such  an  adventure,  only  the  sur- 
geon had  a  gun,  and  De  Veer  was  obliged  to  quit  the 
men  and  run  to  the  vessel  for  more  arms.  The  bear 
seeing  De  Veer  leave  the  rest  of  the  company,  ran 
after  him,  and  would  have  overtaken  him  if  the  others 
had  not  fired  to  prevent  it.  The  report  of  the  musket 
caused  the  bear  to  turn  his  head  ;  the  surgeon  loaded 
and  fired  a  second  time.  The  bear  was  wounded  and 
began  to  run  away,  but  being  hindered  in  his  flight 
by  great  cakes  of  ice,  several  other  shots  were  fired  at 
him  and  he  was  killed. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  the  weather  was  fine, 
and  the  vessels  were  set  afloat.  Barentz  wrote  a 
memoir  stating  the  circumstances  of  their  departure 
from  Holland,  and  all  their  adventures  on  the  voyage 
down  to  their  departure  from  Nova  Zembla.  This 
writing  he  placed  in  a  gun-barrel  and  hung  it  in  the 
chimney  of  the  hut,  for  the  information  of  any  one 
who  should  afterwards  visit  the  place,  and  to  preserve 
the  knowledge  of  these  events  in  case  they  should  be 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       201 

lost  on  their  return  to  Holland.  On  the  14th  of  June, 
1597,  the  crew  all  went  on  board  and  they  set  sail, 
having  rigged  the  pinnace  as  a  consort. 

Barentz  had  for  some  time  been  in  a  declining  state  of 
health.  At  Icy  Cape,  Heemskirk  enquired  of  Barentz 
how  he  found  himself;  he  replied  that  he  was  better, 
and  had  hopes  of  surviving  till  they  reached  home. 
He  asked  if  they  had  reached  Icy  Cape,  and  being 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  desired  to  be  lifted  up 
that  he  might  behold  that  promontory  once  more.  For 
this  he  had  sufficient  leisure,  as  they  were  here  beset 
with  ice  for  several  days.  They  received  such  fright- 
ful shocks  from  masses  of  ice  that  the  men  gave  them- 
selves up  for  lost,  and  took  what  they  believed  to  be 
their  last  farewell  of  each  other.  The  vessels  were 
severely  damaged,  and  they  were  obliged  to  disembark 
everything  on  board  and  haul  them  on  the  ice,  where 
they  repaired  and  caulked  them.  The  ice  now  in- 
creased, and  on  the  20th  of  June  Barentz  died;  another 
of  the  crew  followed  him  within  a  few  hours.  The 
death  of  Barentz  was  a  great  loss  and  much  afflicted 
the  men,  as  he  was  an  expert  pilot,  and  they  all  had 
great  confidence  in  him. 

They  now  continued  their  navigation,  dragging  the 
vessels  at  times  across  the  ice  from  one  channel  to 
another.  Storms  and  fogs  exposed  them  to  perpetual 
hazards.  On  the  27th  of  June  they  reached  a  spot  on 
the  western  coast  of  Cape  Nassau,  where  sailing  along 
the  land  they  beheld  on  the  ice  an  innumerable  multi- 
tude of  sea-cows.  They  also  observed  a  flock  of  birds, 
of  which  they  killed  a  dozen.  On  the  23th,  they 
again  disembarked  their  cargoes  upon  the  ice,  expect- 


202        ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

ing  every  moment  to  see  the  vessels  dashed  in  pieces 
by  a  furious  gale  which  was  blowing  from  the  sea. 
They  made  tents  of  their  sails  on  the  ice,  and  lay 
down  to  repose  from  their  exhausting  fatigue,  leaving 
one  man  as  a  sentinel.  About  midnight  they  heard 
the  sentinel  cry  out  "  Three  bears !  three  bears ! " 
At  this  noise  they  all  started  up  and  ran  out  with  their 
muskets,  but  these  happened  to  be  charged  with  only 
small  shot  for  birds.  Nevertheless,  the  shots  checked 
the  approach  of  the  bears,  and  they  had  time  to  load 
and  fire  again.  One  was  killed  and  the  other  two 
fled.  These  returned  the  next  day  to  the  place  where 
the  dead  bear  was  lying,  and  one  of  them  took  him  by 
the  throat  and  carried  him  off  to  a  considerable  dis- 
tance over  very  rugged  ice,  where  both  began  to  eat 
him.  A  musket  was  fired,  which  drove  them  off,  and 
the  men  going  to  the  place,  found  that  in  the  short 
time  they  were  about  it,  they  had  already  devoured 
half  the  body  of  their  comrade.  They  were  amazed 
at  the  strength  of  the  bear  which  had  carried  him 
away  by  so  rugged  a  path,  since  these  four  men  had 
great  difficulty  in  lifting  the  remaining  half. 

Two  days  after,  these  two  bears  again  approached 
them  on  a  cake  of  ice,  and  appeared  disposed  to  attack 
the  crews,  but  refrained.  A  few  hours  after  this, 
another  was  seen  coming  over  the  firm  ice,  but  he 
was  frightened  away  by  shouting.  At  dawn  the  fol- 
lowing day,  another  bear  came  on  the  drift  ice,  who 
plunged  into  the  water  and  swam  toward  the  crews, 
but  they  again  set  up  a  loud  shouting  and  drove  him 
off*.  About  nine  in  the  forenoon  the  floating  ice  from 
the  sea  struck  with  such  violence  against  the  firm 


ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH.       203 

ice,  that  the  part  where  the  men  had  retired  with 
their  vessels  was  crushed  to  pieces,  and  the  vessels 
were  set  afloat.  This  was  a  great  calamity,  for  all 
their  packages  were  on  the  ice,  and  the  greater  part 
fell  into  the  water.  Many  of  them  were  lost,  and  the 
vessels  were  greatly  damaged.  Such  mishaps  con- 
tinually attended  them,  and  they  were  constantly  un- 
der the  necessity  of  drawing  their  vessels  over  the  ice, 
and  of  refitting  them  after  hair-breadth  escapes  from 
destruction  by  the  ice  islands. 

On  the  llth  of  July,  while  on  the  ice  with  their 
vessels,  a  well  fed  bear  advanced  toward  them  from 
the  water.  When  within  about  thirty  paces,  three 
muskets  were  fired  at  him,  and  he  fell  dead.  The  fat 
issuing  from  his  wounds  covered  4he  sea  like  oil. 
Some  of  the  crew  paddled  off  to  him  on  a  cake  of  ice, 
and  drew  him  on  the  firm  ice  by  a  rope.  They  mea- 
sured his  body  and  found  him  eight  feet  thick.  On  the 
16th  a  bear  came  towards  them  from  the  land.  At  first 
they  could  not  discover  with  certainty  what  it  was,  so 
much  did  his  white  skin  glitter  and  resemble  the 
snow.  On  his  coming  near  they  fired  at  him,  and  he 
ran  off.  The  following  day  some  of  the  crew  wished 
to  go  to  a  neighboring  island,  to  see  if  there  were  any 
channel  through  the  ice.  On  their  way  they  met  with 
the  wounded  bear  lying  on  the  ice.  As  soon  as  he 
heard  them  coming  he  fled ;  but  one  of  the  men  hav- 
ing given  him  a  violent  blow  with  a  boat-hook,  the 
iron  of  which  entered  his  skin,  he  fell  back  on  his 
hind  paws.  The  man  would  have  followed  up  the 
blow,  but  the  bear  broke  the  hook  to  pieces,  so  that  he 
who  had  given  the  blow  fell  backwards  in  his  turn. 


204       ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  THE  DUTCH. 

The  others  immediately  fired  on  the  bear,  which  caus- 
ed him  to  flee.  The  man  who  had  fallen  rose  up,  ran 
after  him  writh  the  stump  of  the  boat-hook  and  dis- 
charged several  heavy  blows  on  his  body.  The  bear 
turned  back  each  time,  and  leaped  three  times  against 
the  man  who  struck  him.  After  several  more  shots 
the  animal  was  killed. 

Their  voyage  continued  to  abound  with  adventures 
and  dangers  of  this  sort,  which  are  related  with  great 
simplicity  and  minutness  in  the  narrative.  They 
proceeded  along  the  coast  as  well  as  the  ice  and  wea- 
ther would  permit  them,  and  on  the  28th  of  July, 
they  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  with  two  Russian 
vessels,  from  whom  they  obtained  a  supply  of  provi- 
sions. They  also  learned  that  three  Dutch  vessels 
were  lying  at  Kola  on  the  Russian  coast.  After  a 
fatiguing  navigation,  on  the  25th  of  August  they  arrived 
at  Kilduyn,  where  in  a  few  days  to  their  great  joy  they 
were  joined  by  one  of  these  Dutch  ships,  commanded 
by  Cornelius  Ryp,  who  had  sailed  with  Heemskirk,  and 
separated  from  him  as  above  related.  He  had  returned 
to  Holland,  and  was  now  again  homeward  bound  from 
a  trading  voyage  to  the  White  Sea.  Heemskirk  and 
his  remaining  companions  embarked  with  Ryp,  and 
they  arrived  at  Amsterdam  on  the  first  day  of  Novem- 
ber, 1597. 

The  journal  of  these  courageous  and  persevering 
adventurers,  during  their  cold,  comfortless,  dark  and 
dreadful  winter,  is  intensely  and  painfully  interesting. 
No  murmurings  escape  them  in  their  afflicting  and 
hopeless  situation,  but  such  a  spirit  of  simple  and 
true  piety,  and  a  tone  of  such  mild  and  subdued  re- 


SPANISH   AMERICAN    COMMERCE.  205 

signation  to  Divine  Providence,  breathe  through  the 
whole  narrative,  that  it  is  impossible  to  read  the 
tale  of  their  sufferings,  and  contemplate  their  forlorn 
and  appalling  situation  in  that  frightful  climate,  with- 
out the  deepest  emotion. 


SPANISH  AMERICAN  COMMERCE. 

THE  commerce  of  the  Spaniards  with  their  South 
American  colonies,  was  for  a  long  time  carried  on  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  to  avoid  the  tedious  and  dan- 
gerous passage  round  Cape  Horn.  The  chief  seaport 
frequented  for  the  purpose  on  the  Atlantic  side,  was 
Porto  Bello,  a  place  possessing  a  most  admirable  har- 
bor, but  a  noxious  climate.  This  inconvenience,  how- 
ever, did  not  prevent  Porto  Bello  from  becoming  the 
theatre  of  the  richest  commerce  that  was  ever  trans- 
acted upon  earth.  The  gold,  silver,  and  other  pro- 
ductions of  Peru  and  Chili  were  brought  annually  to 
that  place  from  Panama,  to  be  exchanged  for  the  manu- 
factures of  Europe  ;  and  the  Spanish  galleons,  or  huge 
merchant  ships,  arrived  there  laden  with  every  article 
of  necessity  and  luxury.  During  the  trading  season 
Porto  Bello,  at  other  times  a  lonely  and  deserted  spot, 
became  suddenly  filled  with  throngs  of  people,  its  har- 
bor was  crowded  with  ships,  and  the  neighboring 
fields  were  covered  with  droves  of  mules  laden  with 
the  precious  metals.  Instead  of  poverty,  silence  and 
solitude,  nothing  was  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  and 
squares  but  bustling  multitudes,  bales  of  goods,  and 
chests  of  treasure. 

xviii. — 18 


206  SPANISH   AMERICAN    COMMERCE. 

As  soon  as  the  galleons  were  unloaded,  and  the  Peru- 
vian merchants  with  the  President  of  Panama  arrived, 
they  proceeded  to  arrange  the  business  of  the  fair. 
For  this  purpose  the  deputies  of  the  several  parties 
repaired  on  board  the  admiral's  ship,  where  the  prices 
of  the  different  commodities  were  settled  in  presence 
of  the  commander  of  the  galleons  and  the  President, 
the  one  representing  the  European  Spaniards,  and  the 
other  the  Peruvians.  The  estimate  was  not  adjusted 
by  the  intrinsic  value  of  each  article,  but  according  to 
scarcity  and  demand;  and  the  ability  of  the  agents 
was  shown  in  forming  their  combinations  so  judi- 
ciously, that  the  cargo  imported  from  Europe  should 
absorb  all  the  treasure  sent  from  Lima.  It  was 
regarded  as  a  bad  market  when  goods  were  found  neg- 
lected for  want  of  money,  or  when  money  was  not 
expended  for  lack  of  goods.  In  the  former  case,  and  in 
that  only,  the  Spanish  merchants  were  permitted  to 
visit  the  ports  on  the  South  Sea,  and  dispose  of  their 
articles  ;  and  in  the  latter,  the  Peruvians  might  make 
remittances  to  Spain  for  purchasers.  The  prices  were 
no  sooner  settled  than  the  traffic  commenced.  This 
was  neither  tedious  nor  difficult ;  it  was  conducted 
with  that  simplicity  and  confidence  which  accompany 
extensive  dealings.  No  bale  of  goods  was  ever  opened 
by  the  purchasers,  no  chest  of  treasure  was  examined. 
Both  were  received  on  the  credit  of  the  persons  to 
whom  they  belonged  ;  and  these  exchanges  were  made 
with  so  much  honesty,  that  this  liberal  confidence 
was  never  abused.  It  happened  not  unfrequently  that 
mistakes  were  made ;  chests  of  gold  were  found  mixed 
with  those  of  silver,  and  articles  came  to  light  in  the 


SPANISH   AMERICAN    COMMERCE.  207 

bales  which  were  not  entered  in  the  invoice  ;  but  all 
was  faithfully  and  accurately  accounted  for  on  the  re- 
turn of  the  galleons.  A  single  instance  of  fraud  is  on 
record.  In  the  year  1654,  all  the  coined  silver  brought 
from  Porto  Bello  to  Europe,  was  found  to  be  adultera- 
ted by  one  fifth  of  alloy ;  but  the  Spanish  merchants, 
•with  their  usual  integrity,  sustained  the  whole  loss, 
and  indemnified  the  foreigners  by  whom  they  were 
employed.  The  fraud  was  traced  to  its  source ;  the 
treasurer  of  the  mint  of  Lima,  the  guilty  person,  was 
publicly  burnt ;  and  the  reputation  of  the  Peruvian 
merchants  incurred  no  stain. 

The  fair  of  Porto  Bello  was  limited  to  forty  days  on 
account  of  the  instability  of  the  climate ;  after  which 
the  galleons  returned  to  Spain  by  the  way  of  Cuba, 
often  with  cargoes  of  the  value  of  twenty  millions  of 
dollars.  By  this  commerce  the  influx  of  treasure  from 
America  into  Spain  became  enormous,  and  one  would 
naturally  suppose  must  have  rendered  this  country 
the  richest  in  the  universe.  But  Spain  affords  one  of 
the  many  proofs  that  no  country  can  be  made  rich  by 
the  precious  metals,  when  industry  and  enterprise  are 
wanting.  Such  a  flood  of  treasure  led  to  corruption 
in  the  government  and  indolence  in  the  inhabitants. 
By  the  ambitious  extravagance  of  Charles  V.  and  the 
bigotry  and  imbecility  of  Philip  II.,  the  nation  lost  its 
energies  and  population  and  industry  declined.  The 
English  and  Dutch  by  their  superiority  in  naval 
power,  having  acquired  such  a  command  of  the  sea  as 
to  cut  off  all  communication  between  Spain  and  her 
colonies,  the  Spanish  court,  in  order  to  furnish  them 
with  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  as  the  only  means  of 


208  SPANISH    AMERICAN    COMMERCE. 

receiving  from  them  any  portion  of  this  treasure,  de- 
parted so  far  from  the  usual  rigor  of  its  maxims  as  to 
open  the  trade  with  Peru  to  the  French.  Louis  XIV. 
granted  the  privileges  of  this  lucrative  commerce  to 
the  merchants  of  St.  Malo,  who  engaged  in  it  with 
vigor,  and  carried  it  on  upon  principles  very  different 
from  those  of  the  Spaniards.  They  supplied  Peru 
with  European  commodities  at  a  more  moderate  price 
and  in  liberal  quantities.  The  goods  which  they  im- 
ported were  conveyed  to  every  province  of  Spanish 
America  in  such  abundance  as  had  never  been  seen 
in  any  former  period  ;  and  if  this  intercourse  had  been 
continued,  the  exportation  of  European  commodities 
from  Spain  must  have  ceased,  and  the  dependence  of 
the  colonies  on  the  mother  country  would  have  been 
at  an  end.  Peremptory  orders  were  therefore  issued, 
prohibiting  the  admission  of  foreign  vessels  into  any 
port  of  Peru  or  Chili,  while  a  Spanish  squadron  was 
employed  to  clear  the  South  Sea  of  all  foreign 
intruders. 

Though  Spain  obtained  relief  from  one  encroach- 
ment upon  her  commercial  system,  on  the  cessation  of 
the  war  which  was  terminated  by  the  peace  of  Utrecht, 
she  was  exposed  to  another  hardly  less  threatening. 
As  an  inducement  with  Queen  Anne,  to  conclude  a 
peace,  which  France  and  Spain  desired  with  equal 
ardor,  Philip  V.  not  only  granted  to  Great  Britain 
the  Asiento,  or  contract  for  supplying  the  Spanish 
colonies  with  negroes,  which  had  formerly  been  en- 
joyed by  France,  but  granted  the  British  the  more 
extraordinary  privilege  of  sending  annually  to  the  fair 
of  Porto  Bello,  a  ship  of  500  tons,  laden  with  Euro- 


SPANISH    AMERICAN    COMMERCE.  209 

pean  commodities.  As  a  result  of  this  contract,  which 
was  vested  exclusively  in  the  South  Sea  Company, 
British  factories  were  established  at  Carthagena,  Pan- 
ama, Vera  Cruz,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  other  Spanish 
settlements  ;  and  the  company  was  further  permitted 
to  freight  in  the  ports  of  the  Pacific,  vessels  of  400 
tons'  burthen  in  order  to  convey  the  negroes  to  all  the 
coasts  of  Peru,  and  to  bring  back  the  produce  in  gold 
and  silver.  It  may  be  easily  understood  what  use  was 
made  of  these  important  advantages  by  such  an  enter- 
prising and  commercial  people  as  the  English.  The 
contraband  trade  was  carried  on  with  a  facility  and 
to  an  extent  unknown  in  any  former  period. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  only  effect  of  the  Asiento 
upon  the  trade  of  Spain.  The  agents  of  the  British 
South  Sea  Company,  under  cover  of  the  importations 
which  they  were  allowed  to  make  by  the  annual  ship 
to  Porto  Bello,  poured  in  their  commodities  on  the 
American  continent  without  stint  or  limitation.  In- 
stead of  a  vessel  of  500  tons,  as  stipulated  by  the  treaty, 
they  usually  employed  one  twice  as  large.  She  was 
accompanied  by  three  or  four  smaller  vessels  to  supply 
her  when  her  own  cargo  was  sold  out ;  and  which, 
anchoring  in  a  neighboring  creek,  furnished  her  con- 
stantly with  fresh  bales,  undisturbed  by  the  inspectors 
of  the  fair  or  the  officers  of  the  revenue,  who,  gained 
over  by  liberal  bribes,  connived  at  the  smuggling. 
Thus  partly  by  the  operations  of  the  British  South 
Sea  Company,  and  partly  by  the  activity  of  private 
interlopers,  almost  the  whole  trade  of  Spanish  Amer- 
ica was  engrossed  by  foreigners.  The  immense  com- 
merce of  the  galleons,  once  the  pride  of  Spain  and  the 
N  18* 


210  ENGLISH   EAST   INDIA   COMMERCE. 

envy  of  other  nations,  sunk  to  nothing,  and  in  1748 
the  galleons  were  finally  abolished  after  having  been 
employed  upwards  of  two  centuries. 


ENGLISH  EASTINDIACOMMEKCE. 

THE  successful  voyages  of  Drake,  Stephens,  Caven- 
dish, and  others,  who  accomplished  a  passage  to  India, 
some  by  the  way  of  the  South  Sea,  and  others  by  doub- 
ling the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  gave  a  stimulus  to  the  en- 
terprise of  the  English  traders,  and  in  the  year  1600, 
a  number  of  merchants  belonging  to  London  formed  a 
company  for  the  purpose  of  trading  to  the  East  Indies. 
An  act  of  Parliament  granted  them  this  exclusive  priv- 
ilege for  fifteen  years.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
English  East  India  Company,  an  institution  without 
a  parallel  in  the  world ;  an  association  of  merchants 
which  dethroned  kings,  and  exercised  a  sway  over  a 
territory  equal  to  half  the  ancient  Roman  Empire  for 
wealth  and  population. 

The  first  fleet  sent  out  by  the  company  sailed  in 
1601.  They  visited  Achen  in  Sumatra,  which  was 
then  a  great  commercial  mart.  Thence  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Bantam  in  the  island  of  Java,  and  the 
Moluccas.  They  returned  to  England  with  a  rich 
lading  of  cloves,  nutmegs,  and  pepper.  This  early 
success  determined  the  company  to  form  settlements 
in  India.  In  a  few  years  they  acquired  possession  of 
a  part  of  the  Moluccas,  which  at  that  time  passed  for 
the  most  desirable  territory  in  the  Indies.  It  was  not 


ENGLISH   EAST    INDIA   COMMERCE.  211 

long  before  they  became  embroiled  with  the  Portuguese 
and  Dutch,  but  the  superior  perseverance  and  enter- 
prise of  the  English,  enabled  them  in  the  end  to  gain 
the  advantage.  In  1686,  they  purchased  a  portion  of 
territory  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel  and  formed  a 
settlement  there. 

But  the  most  important  step  in  the  foundation  of 
the  British  empire  in  India,  was  the  conquest  of  the 
kingdom  of  Bengal.  They  had  formed  a  settlement 
at  Calcutta  in  this  territory,  with  no  greater  expec- 
tations than  to  erect  it  into  a  trading  factory.  But 
chance,  combined  with  the  ambitious  spirit  and  enter- 
prising temper  of  the  adventurers,  opened  to  them  a 
career  of  conquest  so  brilliant  and  astonishing  that  the 
individuals  who  were  the  main  instruments  in  the 
work,  had  not  at  the  outset  the  faintest  conception  of 
the  magnitude  and  importance  of  their  own  achieve- 
ments. 

A  pernicious  custom  had  for  some  time  prevailed  in 
these  countries.  The  governors  of  all  the  European 
settlements  claimed  the  privilege  of  granting  an  asylum 
to  such  natives  as  fled  to  them  to  avoid  oppression  or 
punishment  from  their  own  rulers.  This  was  a  con- 
siderable source  of  wealth  to  these  officers,  as  they 
received  rewards  in  return  for  their  protection,  and  in 
consequence,  they  overlooked  the  danger  of  this  prac- 
tice of  screening  fugitives  from  justice.  One  of  the  chief 
Indian  functionaries  of  Bengal  in  this  manner,  took 
refuge  among  the  English  of  Calcutta  to  avoid  the 
punishment  with  which  he  was  menaced  for  an  act  of 
treachery,  and  was  formally  taken  under  their  protec- 
tion. The  Subah  of  the  country,  justly  resenting  this, 


212  ENGLISH    EAST    INDIA    COMMERCE. 

marched  with  an  army,  took  Calcutta,  and  threw  the 
garrison  into  a  dungeon.  In  the  burning  climate  of 
India,  and  crowded  into  a  narrow  space  without  ven- 
tilation, the  miserable  Englishmen  endured  all  the 
horrors  of  suffocation.  Their  afflicting  cries  touched 
the  hearts  of  the  Hindoos  who  were  keeping  guard 
over  them,  but  the  Subah  was  asleep,  and  no  person 
in  Bengal  dared  to  disturb  his  slumbers  and  request 
an  order  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers.  In  conse- 
quence, out  of  an  hundred  and  fifty  men,  only  twenty- 
three  were  found  alive  the  next  morning.  Such  was 
the  tragical  affair  of  what  is  called  the  Black  Hole  of 
Calcutta. 

Admiral  Watson  who  had  just  arrived  in  India  with 
a  British  fleet,  and  Colonel  Clive  who  had  already  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  war  with  the  natives  of  the 
Carnatic,  took  immediate  measures  to  avenge  this 
outrage.  They  collected  the  English  fugitives  who 
were  escaping  from  place  to  place,  proceeded  up  the 
Ganges  in  December,  1756,  retook  Calcutta,  made 
themselves  masters  of  several  other  places,  and  gained 
a  complete  victory  over  the  Subah.  A  success  so 
rapid  appears  surprising;  but  the  Subah  from  his 
tyrannical  behavior  had  long  been  detested  by  his 
people,  and  his  principal  officers  sold  themselves  to  the 
English.  He  was  betrayed  at  the  head  of  his  army, 
and  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  who  caused 
him  to  be  strangled  in  prison. 

The  English  disposed  of  the  sovereignty  to  the  ring- 
leader of  the  conspiracy,  who  ceded  to  the  company  a 
portion  of  territory,  with  a  grant  of  every  privilege, 
exemption  and  favor,  to  which  they  had  any  preten- 


ENGLISH    EAST    INDIA    COMMERCE.  213 

sion.  The  treasures  which  the  English  drew  from 
the  province  they  had  acquired,  soon  enabled  them  to 
establish  themselves  firmly  in  the  country,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  quarrels  which  ensued  between  them 
and  the  native  princes,  they  gained  conquest  after  con- 
quest, and  before  long  saw  the  mighty  Mogul  Empire 
within  their  grasp. 

In  the  height  of  its  power  the  East  India  Company 
held  the  control  of  a  territory  in  the  East,  containing 
a  population  of  more  than  sixty  millions,  and  pro- 
ducing a  yearly  revenue  of  eighty  millions  of  dol- 
lars. Their  army  amounted  to  150,000  men,  to  which 
may  be  added  a  numerous  and  splendid  civil  estab- 
lishment of  governors,  councillors,  judges,  diplomatic 
residents,  collectors  of  revenue,  <&c.  Their  commercial 
capital  in  money  amounted  to  fifty  millions  of  dollars, 
in  warehouses  to  five  millions ;  in  shipping  to  eighteen 
millions,  and  in  other  shapes  to  twenty-five  millions. 
Their  ships  were  navigated  by  a  body  of  seamen 
amounting  to  nearly  ten  thousand,  and  they  gave  em- 
ployment to  a  population  of  shipbuilders,  carpenters, 
coopers,  ropemakers,  blacksmiths,  sailmakers,  &c., 
who  with  their  numerous  workmen  for  the  last 
two  centuries,  formed  regular  establishments  on  the 
banks  of  the  Thames,  giving  support  to  no  less  than 
fifty  thousand  persons  ;  by  whose  united  industry  and 
wealth  all  those  stupendous  fabrics  have  arisen,  which 
in  their  display  and  convenience,  as  docks,  ware- 
houses, and  manufactories,  contribute  in  so  material  a 
degree  to  characterize  the  port  of  London  in  its  naval 
and  commercial  establishments,  as  the  most  opulent, 
extensive,  and  magnificent  that  exists  in  the  world. 


214  ENGLISH    EAST    INDIA    COMMERCE. 

The  amount  of  commerce  carried  on  by  the  company, 
was  of  course  very  great,  as  in  addition  to  the  trade 
between  Great  Britain  and  their  own  dominions,  they 
possessed  a  monopoly  of  the  British  trade  to  China. 
Their  charter  was  rene\ved  by  parliament  from  time 
to  time,  and  their  privileges  underwent  various  modi- 
ifications.  At  length  in  1833,  when  the  charter  was 
renewed  and  extended  to  the  year  1854,  the  monopoly 
of  the  China  trade  was  abolished,  and  the  company 
was  restricted  from  carrying  on  any  commercial  ope- 
rations on  its  own  account,  and  was  confined  alto- 
gether to  the  territorial  and  political  management  of 
the  vast  empire  which  it  has  brought  beneath  its  sway. 
The  company's  revenue  now  arises  from  land-taxes, 
customs,  stamp-duties,  subsidies,  tributes  from  native 
chiefs,  and  monopolies  of  salt  and  opium.  The 
revenue  at  present  exceeds  eighty  millions  of  dollars, 
but  their  expenses  of  administration  have  much  aug- 
mented, and  their  standing  army  now  amounts  to  the 
enormous  number  of  224,000  men. 

The  government  of  the  company  is  managed  by  a 
Board  of  Directors  in  London,  chosen  by  a  court  of 
proprietors.  These  directors  appoint  a  Governor  Gen- 
eral of  India,  and  the  Governors  of  the  several  Pres- 
idencies, but  these  appointments  are  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  crown.  All  subordinate  officers  are 
appointed  by  the  Directors.  The  affairs  of  the  com- 
pany are  subjected  to  a  species  of  supervision  by  a 
Board  of  Control,  nominated  by  the  King  or  his  cabi- 
net ;  and  the  President  of  the  board,  is,  in  effect,  a  Se- 
cretary of  State  for  the  affairs  of  India. 


COMMERCE  OF  THE  NORTH-WEST 
COAST  OF  AMERICA. 


CAPTAIN  COOK'S  third  voyage  having  brought  to 
light  several  countries  of  which  little  or  nothing  was 
previously  known,  several  enterprising  persons  in 
England,  allured  by  the  hopes  of  a  profitable  traffic 
with  the  natives  of  the  north-west  coast  of  America, 
engaged  in  voyages  to  that  quarter  as  early  as  the 
year  1784.  The  people  of  the  United  States,  then 
just  recovering  from  the  entire  prostration  of  their 


216  COMMERCE    OF    THE    NORTH-WEST    COAST. 

commerce,  by  the  revolutionary  war,  and  possessing 
more  enterprize  than  money,  were  not  slow  in  perceiv- 
ing the  benefits  likely  to  result  from  a  participation  in 
this  branch  of  trade,  where  industry  and  perseverance 
could  be  substituted  for  capitol. 

In  1787  two  vessels  were  fitted  out  at  Boston,  the 
ship  Columbia  of  300  tons,  and  the  sloop  Washington 
of  100,  the  former  commanded  by  John  Kendrick,^  and 
the  latter  by  Eobert  Gray,  since  known  as  the  first  nav- 
igator who  entered  the  Columbia  river.  These  vessels 
were  owned  by  an  association  of  Boston  merchants, 
and  having  been  furnished  with  sea-letters  under  the 
authority  of  Congress,  and  passports  from  the  authori- 
ties of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  they  sailed  from 
Boston  on  the  30th  of  September,  1787.  Each  vessel 
took  out  for  distribution  among  the  natives,  a  number 
of  medals  struck  for  the  purpose,  bearing  on  one  side 
the  figure  of  a  ship  and  a  sloop  under  sail,  with  the 
inscription,  "  Columbia  and  Washington,  commanded 
ly  J.  Kendrick"  and  on  the  reverse,  "  Fitted  out  at 
Boston,  N.  America,  for  the  Pacific  Ocean,  ly  J.  Bar- 
rell,  S.  Brown,  C.  Bulfinch,  J.  Darby,  C.  Hatch,  J. 
M.  Pintard.  1787." 

They  both  arrived  safely  on  the  north-west  coast, 
where  they  prosecuted  their  trade,  and  were  shortly  fol- 
lowed by  other  vessels.  The  officers  entrusted  with  the 
management  of  these  voyages,  soon  acquired  the  ne- 
cessary local  knowledge  to  maintain  a  competition  with 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  this  adventurous  navigator  was  after- 
wards killed,  like  Captain  Cook,  at  Owhyhee,  by  the  natives. 
This  happened  in  1793. 


COMMERCE    OF    THE    NORTH-WEST    COAST.         217 

the  traders  of  other  nations,  mostly  English,  who  had 
preceded  them.  The  habits  and  ordinary  pursuits 
of  the  New  Englanders,  qualified  them  in  a  peculiar 
manner  for  carrying  on  this  trade,  and  the  embarrassed 
state  of  European  politics  which  presently  followed, 
combined  with  other  circumstances,  gave  them  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years,  almost  a  monopoly  of  the  most 
profitable  part  of  it.  As  early  as  1801,  there  were"  six- 
teen ships  on  this  coast,  engaged  in  the  fur  trade,  fif- 
teen of  which  were  American,  and  one  English. 
Upwards  of  18,000  sea-otter  skins,  a  most  valuable 
fur,  in  addition  to  other  furs,  were  collected  for  the 
China  market  in  that  year,  by  the  American  vessels 
alone.  Of  the  profits  of  this  trade  we  may  form  some 
estimate,  from  the  fact  that  in  a  single  instance,  the 
proceeds  of  an  investment  of  9000  dollars,  in  a  voyage 
of  about  eight  months,  were  sold  in  China  for  60,000 
dollars. 

From  this  period,  however,  the  trade  began  to  de- 
cline, the  sea-otter  which  is  the  principal  object  of 
pursuit,  having  become  scarce,  in  consequence  of  the 
impolitic  system  pursued  by  the  Russians,  as  well  as 
by  the  natives,  who  destroy  indiscriminately  the  old 
and  the  young  of  this  animal,  which  will  probably  in 
a  few  years  be  as  scarce  on  the  American  coast,  as  it 
now  is  on  that  of  Kamtschatka,  and  among  the  Aleu- 
tian Islands,  where  they  abounded  when  first  discov- 
ered by  the  Russians.  The  trade  to  the  north-west 
coast  was  then  combined  with  that  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  which  was  carried  on  to  a  considerable  extent 
in  sandal-wood.  These  vessels  were  usually  about 
three  years  in  completing  a  voyage.  After  trading 
xvin. — 19 


218         COMMERCE    OF    THE    NORTH-WEST   COAST. 

with  the  natives  on  the  coast  for  furs,  by  exchanging 
with  them  such  parts  of  the  cargoes  as  were  adapted  to 
the  wants,  or  suited  to  the  fancy  of  these  people,  the 
ships  resorted  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  a  cargo 
of  sandal-wood  was  prepared,  with  which,  and  their 
furs,  they  proceeded  to  Canton,  and  returned  to  the 
United  States  with  cargoes  of  teas,  &c.  The  north- 
west coast  fur  trade  is  no  longer  carried  on  by  Ameri- 
can vessels,  which  have  been  completely  excluded 
from  that  quarter,  by  the  prohibitory  measures  of  the 
Russians,  and  the  activity  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany. 

The  American  posts  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
are  now  few  and  small.  Nearly  all  their  furs  are 
procured  directly  by  their  own  hunting  and  trapping, 
as  they  trade  but  little  with  the  Indians,  whom  the 
agents  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  take  care  to 
keep  in  a  state  of  hostility  towards  them.  The  hunt- 
ers and  trappers  who  remain  constantly  in  that  coun- 
try, are  about  three  or  four  hundred  in  number,  most 
of  them  whites.  In  the  summer  of  each  year  they 
repair,  carrying  with  them  furs  on  pack-horses,  or  on 
their  backs,  to  certain  places  of  rendezvous,  where 
they  meet  the  caravans  from  the  United  States,  and 
the  trade  is  then  conducted  without  the  use  of  money, 
each  article,  however,  bearing  a  nominal  money  value. 
These  conventional  rates  are  sometimes  curious. 
Among  the  prices  current,  we  find  whisky  quoted  at 
three  dollars  a  pint ;  tobacco  at  five  dollars  a  pound ; 
gunpowder  at  six  dollars  a  pint ;  dogs — for  eating — at 
fifteen  dollars  each.  The  principal  places  for  rendez- 
vous are  on  Green  River,  a  branch  of  the  Colorado,  at 


COMMERCE    BY    CARAVANS. 


219 


the  foot  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the  western  side, 
and  Pierre's  Hole,  a  valley  about  a  hundred  miles 
north  of  this,  from  which  issues  one  of  the  eastern 
head  waters  of  the  Oregon.  Both  these  places 
are  near  the  sources  of  a  branch  of  the  Platte,  along 
which  lies  the  route  of  the  caravans  to  and  from  Mis- 
souri. 


COMMERCE   BY  CARAVANS. 


THE  original  dwelling  of   the   human  race,  as  is 
well   known,  was   in   the   mild   and  fertile   regions 


220  COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

of  the  east.  The  career  of  human  improvement 
also  began  in  this  quarter ;  and  from  the  remains  of 
sciences  which  were  anciently  cultivated  in  India,  we 
may  conclude  it  to  be  one  of  the  first  countries  in 
which  was  made  any  considerable  progress  in  that 
career.  The  wisdom  of  the  East  was  early  celebrated, 
and  its  productions  were  accordingly  in  request  among 
distant  nations.  The  intercourse,  however,  between 
different  countries  was,  as  we  have  already  remarked, 
carried  on,  at  first,  entirely  by  land.  As  the  people  of 
the  east  appear  soon  to  have  acquired  dominion  over 
the  useful  animals,  they  could  early  undertake  the  long 
and  toilsome  journeys  which  it  was  necessary  to  make 
in  order  to  maintain  this  intercourse ;  and  by  the  pro- 
vident bounty  of  Heaven  they  were  furnished  with  a 
beast  of  burthen,  without  whose  aid  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  accomplish  them.  The  Camel,  by 
its  persevering  strength,  by  its  moderation  in  the  use 
of  food,  and  the  singularity  of  its  internal  structure, 
which  enables  it  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  water  for  several 
days,  put  it  in  their  power  to  convey  bulky  commodi- 
ties through  those  deserts,  which  must  be  crossed 
by  all  who  travel  from  any  of  the  countries  west  of  the 
Euphrates  towards  India. 

Trade  was  carried  on  in  this  manner,  particularly 
by  the  nations  near  the  Red  Sea,  from  the  earliest 
period  of  history.  Distant  journeys,  however,  would 
be  undertaken  at  first  only  occasionally,  and  by  a  few 
adventurers.  But  by  degrees,  from  attention  to  their 
mutual  safety  and  comfort,  numerous  bodies  of  mer- 
chants assembled  at  stated  times,  and  forming  a  tem- 
porary association,  known  afterwards  by  the  name  of 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.          221 

a  caravan,  governed  by  officers  of  their  own  choice, 
and  subject  to  regulations  of  which  experience  had 
taught  them  the  utility,  they  performed  journeys  of 
such  extent  and  duration  as  appear  astonishing  to 
people  not  accustomed  to  this  mode  of  carrying  on 
commerce. 

When  the  Romans  had  extended  their  conquests  so 
far  that  the  Euphrates  became  the  eastern  limit  of 
their  empire,  they  found  an  intercourse  established 
between  the  east  and  the  west,  and  as  by  these 
means  they  received  an  additional  supply  of  luxuries 
for  which  they  had  acquired  the  highest  relish,  it 
became  an  object  of  their  policy  to  protect  and  encour- 
age it.  As  the  caravans  were  often  molested  by  the 
Parthians  who  had  acquired  possession  of  all  the  pro- 
vinces between  the  Caspian  Sea  and  that  portion  of 
Tartary  which  borders  on  China,  the  Romans  endea- 
vored to  render  this  intercourse  more  secure  by  a 
negotiation  with  the  Emperor  of  China.  Of  this  sin- 
gular transaction  there  is  indeed  no  vestige  in  the 
Greek  or  Roman  writers;  our  knowledge  of  it  is 
derived  entirely  from  the  Chinese  historians,  by  whom 
we  are  informed  that  An-toun,  the  king  of  the  people 
of  the  Western  Ocean, — who  must  have  been  Marcus 
Antoninus, — sent  an  embassy  with  this  view  to  Oun-ti, 
who  reigned  over  China  in  the  166th  year  of  the 
Christian  era.  The  success  of  this  attempt  is  not 
known. 

The    Mohammedan  religion,   which    spread   with 

amazing  rapidity  over  Asia  and  Africa,  contributed 

greatly  toward  the  increase  of  commercial  intercourse 

by  land  in  both  these  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  gave 

19* 


222          COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

it  additional  vigor  by  mingling  with  it  a  new  principle  of 
activity,  and  by  directing  it  to  a  common  centre.  Mo- 
hammed enjoined  all  his  followers  to  visit  once  in  their 
lifetime  the  Caaba,  or  square  building  in  the  temple  of 
Mecca,  the  object,  from  time  immemorial,  of  veneration 
among  his  countrymen.  In  obedience  to  this  precept, 
caravans  of  pilgrims  assembled  annually  in  every  coun- 
try where  the  Mohammedan  faith  was  established. 
From  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  on  one  hand,  and  from 
the  most  remote  regions  of  the  east  on  the  other,  the 
votaries  of  the  prophet  advanced  to  Mecca.  The  numer- 
ous camels  of  each  caravan  were  loaded  with  valuable 
merchandize,  and  the  holy  city  was  crowded  not  only 
with  zealous  devotees,  but  with  opulent  merchants. 
During  their  stay  there,  the  fair  of  Mecca  was  one  of 
the  greatest  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Mercantile 
transactions  were  carried  on  to  an  immense  extent,  of 
which,  the  despatch,  the  silence,  the  mutual  confidence 
and  good  faith  in  conducting  them,  are  a  most  une- 
quivocal proof.  The  caravans  returned  to  the  west, 
loaded  with  the  muslins  and  calicoes  of  Bengal  and 
the  Deccan,  the  shawls  of  Cashmere,  the  pepper  of 
Malabar,  the  diamonds  of  Golconda,  the  pearls  of 
Bahrein,  the  cinnamon  of  Ceylon,  the  spices  of  the 
Moluccas,  and  an  immense  number  of  other  Indian 
commodities. 

The  caravans  were  regularly  organized  by  govern- 
ment, and  placed  under  the  direction  of  officers  of  high 
rank,  who  assigned  to  the  different  travellers  their 
proper  place  in  the  long  line  of  march,  and  took  care 
that  good  order  was  maintained.  These  regulations 
continue  at  the  present  day,  although  the  Mecca  cara- 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.          223 

vans  have  much  declined  in  numbers.  In  modern  times 
60,000  men  and  20,000  camels  sometimes  constitute 
the  Hadgi  or  pilgrim  caravan.  But  this  amount  is 
insignificant  compared  with  the  numbers  that  flocked 
to  the  holy  city  in  other  ages.  It  is  related  that  when 
the  mother  of  Matassem  V  Illah,  the  last  of  the 
Abbassides,  performed  her  pilgrimage  in  the  year 
1254,  her  caravan  contained  120,000  camels.  The 
route  towards  Mecca  lies  mostly  through  sandy  deserts 
or  barren  uninhabited  wilds  which  seldom  afford  any 
subsistence,  and  where  no  water  can  be  found,  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  the  pilgrims  suffer  great  hard- 
ships. Yet  the  pilgrimage  has  often  been  performed 
with  immense  splendor  and  luxury.  The  caliph 
Mahadi  expended  in  one  of  these  expeditions  six  mil- 
lions of  dinars  of  gold.  The  following  passage  from 
Moore's  Lalla  Rookh  alludes  to  this  circumstance. 

Ne'er  did  the  march  of  Mahadi  display 
Such  pomp  before,  not  e'en  when  on  his  way 
To  Mecca's  temple  ;  when  both  land  and  sea 
Were  spoil'd  to  feed  the  pilgrim's  luxury ; 
When  round  him,  'mid  the  burning  sands,  he  saw 
Fruits  of  the  north  in  icy  freshness  thaw ; 
And  cooFd  his  thirsty  lip  beneath  the  glow 
Of  Mecca's  sun,  with  urns  of  Persian  snow. 

At  the  present  day,  the  Syrian  caravan,  as  it  is 
called,  although  it  first  starts  from  Turkey,  is  the 
largest  and  best  regulated;  yet  according  to  Burck- 
hardt,  who  saw  it  at  Mecca  in  1814,  it  consisted  of  no 
more  than  15,000  camels.  This  caravan  sets  out  from 
Constantinople  and  collects  pilgrims  and  traders  all 


224          COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

through  Anatolia  and  Syria.  During  this  part  of  the 
route,  great  care  is  taken  for  the  safety  and  comfort  of 
the  travellers ;  the  armed  forces  of  the  different  pashas 
and  local  governors  escort  them  from  town  to  town, 
and  the  magnificence  of  former  sultans  has  provided 
caravanserais  or  inns,  and  fountains  of  water  by  the 
road-side.  On  arriving  at  Damascus,  the  caravan  is 
under  the  protection  of  the  pasha  of  that  district,  who 
derives  both  honor  and  profit  from  the  charge.  At 
this  pleasant  city  it  generally  makes  a  stay  of  three  or 
four  weeks.  Here,  also,  the  camels  are  changed,  the 
Anatolian  camel  not  being  considered  fit  for  the 
remainder  of  the  journey.  When  all  is  ready,  the 
pasha  of  Damascus  or  one  of  his  chief  officers,  puts 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  caravan,  which  he  accom- 
panies to  Mecca.  The  signal  for  encamping  and 
starting,  is  the  firing  of  a  musket.  On  its  route  across 
the  desert,  where  marauding  Arabs  are  always  on  the 
lookout,  a  troop  of  horse  rides  in  front,  and  another  in 
the  rear  to  bring  up  stragglers.  The  different  parties 
of  travellers  who  are  distingushed  by  their  provinces 
or  towns,  keep  close  together,  and  each  party  knows 
its  proper  station.  The  usual  arrangement  of  the 
travellers  is  to  contract  with  a  mekoivem,  a  man  who 
speculates  in  the  furnishing  of  animals  and  provisions, 
and  who  takes  upon  himself  all  the  trouble  and 
expense  of  providing  everything  for  a  stipulated  sum. 
The  Egyptian  pilgrim  caravan,  which  starts  from 
Cairo,  is  regulated  in  much  the  same  manner;  but  it 
is  not  so  large,  and  its  route  by  the  head  of  the  Eed 
Sea,  and  through  a  country  much  infested  by  the 
Bedoween  Arabs,  and  where  water  is  scarce,  is  much 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.  225 

more  dangerous.  The  Persian  caravan  to  Mecca, 
which  formerly  proceeded  through  Mesopotamia  and 
Syria,  and  the  Moorish  caravan  from  Morocco,  have 
both  become  very  irregular,  though  many  Persians, 
Moors  and  Negroes  find  their  way  to  Jiddu,  the  port 
of  Mecca,  by  sea.  Considerable  troops  of  Moham- 
medan Indians  also  visit  Mecca. 

As  the  journeys  of  the  caravans  which  are  purely 
commercial,  do  not  commence  at  stated  seasons,  and 
their  routes  vary  according  to  the  convenience  or  fancy 
of  the  merchants  of  whom  they  are  composed,  a 
description  cannot  be  given  of  them  with  any  great 
degree  of  accuracy.  But  we  know  that  the  circulation 
of  eastern  commodities  by  these  caravans  is  very 
extensive.  The  same  intercourse  which  was  anciently 
kept  up  by  the  provinces  in  the  north-east  of  Asia,  with 
Hindostan  and  China,  still  subsists.  Among  all  the 
numerous  tribes  of  Tartars,  even  of  those  which  retain 
their  pastoral  manners  in  the  greatest  purity,  the 
demand  for  the  productions  of  these  two  countries  is 
very  great.  In  order  to  supply  them  with  these,  car- 
avans set  out  annually  from  Boghar,  Samarcand,  Thi- 
bet, and  several  other  places,  and  return  with  large 
cargoes  of  Indian  and  Chinese  goods.  But  the  trade 
carried  on  between  Russia  and  China  in  this  part  of 
Asia,  is  by  far  the  most  extensive  and  best  known. 
Some  connection  of  this  kind,  it  is  probable,  was  kept 
up  between  these  from  an  early  period,  but  it  increased 
greatly  after  the  interior  parts  of  Russia  were  ren- 
dered more  accessible  by  the  conquests  of  Zingis 
Khan  and  Tamerlane.  The  commercial  nations  of 
Europe  were  so  well  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  car- 
o 


226  COMMERCE  BY  CAKAVANS. 

rymg  on  this  trade,  that  soon  after  the  Portuguese  had 
opened  the  communication  with  the  east  by  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  an  attempt  was  made  in  order  to 
diminish  the  advantages  which  they  derived  from  this 
discovery,  to  prevail  on  the  Russians  to  convey  Indian 
and  Chinese  commodities  through  the  whole  extent  of 
their  empire,  partly  by  land-carriages  and  partly  by 
means  of  navigable  rivers,  to  some  port  on  the  Baltic, 
from  which  they  might  be  distributed  through  every  part 
of  Europe.  This  scheme,  too  great  for  the  monarch 
then  on  the  throne  of  Russia  to  carry  into  execution, 
was  rendered  practicable  by  the  conquests  of  Ivan 
Basilowitz,  and  the  genius  of  Peter  the  Great. 
Though  the  capitals  of  the  two  empires  were  situated 
at  the  distance  of  6,378  miles  from  each  other,  and  the 
route  lay  for  above  400  miles  through  an  uninhabited 
desert,  caravans  travelled  from  one  to  the  other. 

But  though  it  had  been  stipulated  when  this  inter- 
course was  established,  that  the  number  of  persons  in 
each  caravan  should  not  exceed  two  hundred,  and 
though  they  were  shut  up  \vithin  the  walls  of  a  cara- 
vanserai during  the  short  time  they  remained  at  Pekin, 
and  were  allowed  to  deal  only  with  a  few  merchants  to 
whom  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  had  been  granted,  yet 
the  jealous  vigilance  with  which  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment excludes  foreigners  from  a  free  intercourse  with 
its  subjects,  was  alarmed,  and  the  admission  of  the 
Russian  caravans  into  the  empire,  was  soon  prohibited. 
After  various  negotiations,  an  expedient  was  at  length 
devised,  by  which  the  advantages  of  mutual  commerce 
were  secured,  without  infringing  the  cautious  arrange- 
ments of  Chinese  policy.  On  the  boundary  of  the  two 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.          227 

empires,  two  small  towns  were  built  almost  contiguous, 
the  one  inhabited  by  Russians,  and  the  other  by  Chi- 
nese. To  these,  all  the  marketable  productions  of 
their  respective  countries,  were  brought  by  the  subjects 
of  each  empire ;  and  the  furs,  the  linen  and  woollen 
cloth,  the  leather,  glass,  &c.,  of  Russia,  were  ex- 
changed for  the  silk,  cotton,  tea,  rice,  toys,  &c.,  of 
China. 

The  Moors  of  Africa  trade  by  caravans,  both  with 
the  central  parts  of  that  continent  and  with  Asia. 
Seven  months  before  the  feast  in  commemoration  of 
the  birth  of  Mohammed,  pilgrims  from  every  quarter 
assemble  at  Fez  in  order  to  join  the  caravan  which 
proceeds  at  that  season  to  Mecca.  Fez  is  the  most 
commercial  city  in  the  whole  empire,  and  abounds 
with  provisions  of  every  description ;  the  travellers, 
therefore,  furnish  themselves  at  this  place,  with  a  suf- 
ficient supply  of  every  article  to  last  till  their  arrival 
at  Tripoli  or  Tunis.  This  grand  caravan  is  always 
accompaniad  by  many  others,  bound  for  the  Barbary 
States,  Cairo,  and  other  places.  The  merchants  who 
go  upon  these  expeditions  carry  ready  money,  haicks 
and  slippers,  the  manufacture  of  Morocco,  and  dispose 
of  them  to  the  Arabs  and  country  people  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Algiers  and  Tunis.  The  caravan  is  put.  in 
motion  at  sunrise,  stops  at  noon  to  dine,  and  encamps 
about  four  in  the  afternoon.  The  course  they  take 
is  through  the  interior  of  the  country,  leaving  Trem- 
ccen,  Algiers  and  Tunis  to  the  left,  but  some  of 
them  make  excursions  to  the  two  latter  places,  and 
afterwards  join  the  main  body.  By  these  means  they 
are  enabled  to  obtain  a  supply  of  fresh  provisions  for 


228  COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

themselves  and  beasts,  and  to  sell  to  the  Arabs  haicko, 
slippers  and  old  caps,  for  which  they  usually  receive 
a  good  price,  and  the  profits  enable  them  to  make 
advantageous  purchases  at  Mecca,  Alexandria  and 
Cairo. 

Upon  their  arrival,  after  a  journey  of  two  months  and 
a  half,  at  that  part  of  the  seacoast  where  the  tower  of 
Salines  is  situated,  near  Tripoli,  they  rest  tea  days.  At 
this  place  all  the  travellers  supply  themselves  with  forty 
or  fifty  days'  provisions,  which  is  generally  sufficient  to 
support  them  till  they  reach  Alexandria  or  Cairo ; 
on  their  return,  they  purchase  in  this  neighborhood  a 
large  number  of  mules  which  they  afterwards  sell  in 
Morocco  at  an  advance  of  three  or  four  hundred  per 
cent.  At  Alexandria  or  Cairo  they  furnish  themselves 
with  provisions  for  the  remainder  of  the  journey  which 
requires  altogether  nearly  seven  months  to  accomplish. 
The  traders  commonly  do  very  well.  By  purchasing 
goods  at  one  place  and  selling  them  at  another,  they 
make  upon  each  sale  a  profit  of  ten  per  cent. 

The  Arabs  from  Fez  to  Egypt,  though  a  rude  class 
of  people,  are  warmly  attached  to  their  religion,  and 
on  that  account  always  give  the  travellers  a  friendly 
reception,  furnishing  them  with  barley,  butter,  eggs, 
mutton,  beef,  &c.  But  beyond  this  region,  the  route 
is  not  so  easy,  as  the  Arabs,  instead  of  being  the  ben- 
efactors, frequently  become  the  plunderers  of  the  car- 
avans. On  such  occasions,  they  spare  nothing,  and 
leave  the  travellers  not  so  much  as  the  necessaries  of 
life  ;  particularly  if  they  refuse  the  contributions  which 
they  usually  demand  for  permitting  the  caravan  to  pass 
peaceably  through  the  country.  At  Mecca,  the  traders 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.          229 

purchase  muslins,  silks,  otto  of  rose,  amber,  musk,  &c. 
The  value  of  the  merchandize  imported  into  Africa  by 
one  of  these  caravans,  has  been  computed  at  two  mil- 
lions of  dollars. 

The  caravans  for  the  interior  of  Africa,  are  not  so 
large  as  that  of  Mecca.  Some  of  them  set  out  from 
the  city  of  Morocco,  and  others  from  Tarudant,  Fez 
and  Tetuan.  They  proceed  to  Timbuctoo,  where 
there  are  some  merchants  of  Morocco  established  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  on  a  trade  with  Guinea,  where 
they  traffic  for  slaves,  ivory,  gold  dust,  &c.  There 
is  great  danger  in  passing  the  deserts,  as  the  Arabs 
plunder  the  caravans,  or  levy  "black  mail"  upon 
them.  The  Arabs  of  the  towns  purchase  of  them  blue 
cloths,  daggers,  looking-glasses,  &c.,  and  generally 
pay  ostrich  feathers  in  return;  this  trade  is  very 
profitable.  The  chief  articles  carried  to  Timbuctoo 
are  tobacco  and  salt. 

The  caravan  trade  between  the  United  States  and 
the  northern  provinces  of  Mexico,  has,  within  a  few 
years,  grown  into  importance.  This  commerce  arose 
from  small  beginnings,  and  was  originally  the  result  of 
accident  rather  than  of  any  organized  plan  for  a  com- 
mercial establishment.  The  intercourse  between  the 
western  settlements  of  the  United  States  and  New 
Mexico,  was  opened  about  the  year  1812,  previously 
to  which  date,  but  a  single  individual,  excepting  Indi- 
ans, had  crossed  the  desert  plains  between  our  western 
boundaries  and  Santa  Fe.  The  discoveries  of  Cap- 
tain Pike  drew  the  attention  of  the  western  people  to 
this  quarter,  and  in  1812,  an  expedition  consisting  of 
about  a  dozen  persons,  set  out  for  New  Mexico.  Fol- 
XVIIL— 20 


230  COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

lowing  the  directions  given  by  Pike,  they  reached 
Santa  Fe  in  safety.  It  was  well  known  that  the 
Spanish  government  had  placed  the  most  jealous 
restrictions  upon  foreign  commerce,  and  the  inter- 
course of  foreigners  with  their  colonies.  But  these 
traders  imagined  that  the  revolt  of  Hidalgo  had  estab- 
lished the  independence  of  Mexico,  and  that  the  com- 
mercial restrictions  were  removed.  Unfortunately  for 
them,  a  counter-revolution  had  re-established  the  royal 
authority,  Hidalgo  was  put  to  death,  and  all  foreigners, 
but  particularly  Americans,  were  viewed  with  aug- 
mented suspicion.  The  consequence  was,  that  they 
were  immediately  arrested  as  spies,  their  goods  were 
confiscated,  and  they  were  kept  in  prison  for  nine 
years,  when  the  revolt  of  the  Mexicans  under  Iturbide 
caused  them  to  be  set  at  liberty. 

The  accounts  which  they  promulgated  respecting 
the  country,  were  such,  that  new  expeditions  were 
immediately  set  on  foot,  and  in  1821  Santa  Fe  was 
visited  by  two  small  caravans  of  traders  who  made 
large  profits.  Common  calicoes,  and  even  coarse 
unbleached  cottons,  sold  for  two  and  three  dollars  a 
yard.  These  enormous  gains  had  the  natural  effect 
of  increasing  the  number  of  traders  in  that  quarter, 
and  in  the  following  year,  two  larger  caravans  were 
equipped.  One  of  these  met  with  such  adventures  on 
the  route,  that  we  shall  give  a  short  account  of  them. 
This  party  was  commanded  by  Captain  Becknell,  who 
being  familiar  with  travelling  in  the  woods,  and  anx- 
ious to  avoid  the  circuitous  route  of  the  Upper  Arkan- 
sas, which  the  others  had  pursued,  resolved  to  steer 
more  directly  for  Santa  Fe,  entertaining  little  or  no 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.  231 

suspicion  of  the  terrible  hardships  and  sufferings  whicli 
awaited  his  party  in  their  journey  across  the  pathless 
desert.  With  no  other  guide  but  the  stars,  and  per- 
haps a  pocket  compass,  they  struck  into  the  arid  plains 
which  extended  far  and  wide  before  them  to  the  Cin- 
namon River.  No  water  was  found  on  this  route, 
and  they  had  only  a  scanty  supply  in  their  canteens, 
which  was  exhausted  after  two  or  three  days'  march. 
Then  began  their  sufferings,  which  increased  soon  to 
such  a  degree  that  both  men  and  beasts  seemed  driven 
to  distraction.  The  wretched  sufferers  were  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  killing  their  dogs,  and  cutting  off  the 
ears  of  their  mules,  in  the  vain  hope  of  assuaging  their 
burning  thirst  with  the  hot  blood.  This  only  served 
to  irritate  their  parched  throats  and  madden  them  with 
more  intense  suffering.  Frantic  with  despair  in  pros- 
pect of  the  horrible  death  which  now  stared  them  in 
the  face,  they  scattered  in  every  direction  in  search  of 
water,  but  without  success. 

The  deceptive  glimmer  of  the  mirage,  which  is 
common  in  that  dry  region,  frequently  tantalized  them 
with  the  prospect  of  lakes  and  ponds  of  water ;  and 
they  had  wandered  nearly  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the 
Cinnamon  without  meeting  with  a  drop  of  that  pre- 
cious element  on  which  their  existence  depended. 
Totally  ignorant  of  where  they  were,  they  resolved  to 
retrace  their  steps  to  the  point  where  they  had  quitted 
the  Arkansas.  But,  weakened  and  emaciated  by  suf- 
fering, they  were  now  no  longer  equal  to  the  task,  and 
they  would  all  undoubtedly  have  perished  in  the 
desert,  had  not  some  of  the  party  accidentally  dis- 
covered a  buffalo  fresh  from  the  river's  side,  and  with 


232  COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

a  stomach  distended  with  water, — just  as  the  unfortu- 
nate sufferers  were  on  the  point  of  yielding  to  despair. 
The  animal  was  immediately  despatched,  and  an 
invigorating  draught  taken  from  his  stomach.  One 
of  the  party  relates  that  nothing  which  ever  passed  his 
lips  tasted  so  delicious  as  his  first  draught  of  that  filthy 
beverage. 

This  unexpected  and  providential  relief  enabled 
some  of  the  strongest  men  of  the  party  to  reach  the 
river,  where  they  filled  their  canteens  and  hurried 
back  to  the  assistance  of  their  comrades,  many  of 
whom  were  found  prostrate  on  the  ground,  and  inca- 
pable of  further  exertion.  By  degrees,  however,  they 
were  all  enabled  to  resume  their  journey  ;  and  follow- 
ing the  course  of  the  Arkansas  for  several  days, 
thereby  avoiding  the  desert  regions  which  had  occa- 
sioned them  so  much  suffering,  they  succeeded  in 
reaching  Taos,  a  place  sixty  or  seventy  miles  north  of 
Santa  Fe,  without  further  difficulty.  Although  trav- 
ellers have  since  suffered  severely  from  thirst  upon  the 
same-  desert,  yet  as  the  country  has  become  better 
known,  no  incidents  of  so  serious  a  character  as  the 
above,  have  since  happened. 

The  regular  trade  to  Santa  Fe  may  be  said  to  have 
commenced  in  the  year  1822.  The  next  important 
point  in  its  history  is  the  introduction  of  wagons  into 
the  caravans.  The  first  attempt  was  made  in  1824, 
by  a  company  of  traders,  about  eighty  in  number. 
Along  with  the  pack-mules  employed  by  this  com- 
pany, were  twenty-five  wheel  carriages.  This  caravan 
reached  Santa  Fe  with  less  difficulty  than  might  have 
been  expected  from  a  first  experiment  of  this  nature. 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.  233 

The  route  appears  to  have  presented  fewer  obstacles 
than  any  ordinary  road  of  equal  length  in  the  United 
States.  But  it  was  not  until  several  years  after  this 
that  adventurers  with  large  capital  began  to  embark 
in  the  trade.  The  early  traders  having  but  seldom 
experienced  any  molestation  from  the  Indians,  gene- 
rally crossed  the  plains  in  detached  bands,  each  indi- 
vidual rarely  carrying  more  than  two  or  three  hundred 
dollars'  worth  of  stock.  This  peaceful  season,  how- 
ever, did  not  continue  long ;  and  it  is  probable  that 
the  hostilities  of  the  savages  were  provoked  by  the 
aggressions  of  the  traders,  who  did  not  scruple  some- 
times to  attack  certain  tribes  or  individuals  in  revenge 
for  outrages  in  times  past. 

Since  the  commencement  of  this  trade,  the  return- 
ing parties  have  performed  their  journeys  across  the 
plains  with  the  proceeds  of  their  enterprise,  partly  in 
specie,  and  partly  in  furs.  Occasionally,  straggling 
bands  have  been  attacked  by  marauding  Indians,  but 
if  well  armed,  and  of  resolute  spirit,  they  find  little 
difficulty  in  persuading  the  savages  to  let  them  pass 
unmolested.  The  Indians  are  always  willing  to  com- 
promise where  they  find  they  cannot  rob  without 
losing  the  lives  of  their  warriors,  which  they  hardly 
ever  risk,  unless  for  revenge,  or  in  open  warfare. 

The  established  point  of  departure  for  the  caravans 
is  the  town  of  Independence  in  Missouri,  about  twelve 
miles  from  the  Indian  frontier,  and  two  or  three  miles 
south  of  the  river.  They  commonly  begin  their 
march  in  May.  The  provisions  which  they  carry 
consist  of  flour,  bacon,  coffee,  sugar,  salt  and  biscuit ; 
the  numerous  herds  of  buffalo  which  they  encounter 
20* 


234          COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS. 

in  the  course  of  their  journey,  affording  them  an  ample 
store  of  meat.  Each  wagon  is  drawn  by  eight  mules 
or  oxen,  the  former  being  preferred  to  horses.,  Oxen 
have  been  found  to  retain  their  strength  far  beyond 
the  mules  in  these  expeditions,  especially  when  the 
way  lies  through  muddy  and  sandy  places ;  yet  they 
fail  when  the  grass  becomes  dry  and  short,  and  on 
this  account,  the  general  preference  is  given  to  the 
mule.  It  is  usual  for  the  traders  first  to  move  off  in 
detached  parties,  till  they  reach  Council  Grove,  about 
ten  days'  journey  distant.  At  this  point  of  rendezvous 
they  halt  to  organize  a  general  caravan  for  mutual  aid 
and  defence.  During  the  first  hundred  miles,  more 
trouble  is  experienced  from  the  straying  of  cattle,  and 
from  negligence  in  looking  after  them,  than  at  any 
subsequent  time,  the  frequent  alarms  of  the  Indians 
producing  greater  vigilance.  After  leaving  Council 
Grove,  not  a  house  nor  even  an  Indian  wigwam  is  to 
be  seen. 

A  caravan  sometimes  numbers  upwards  of  two  hun- 
dred wagons.  A  cornmander-in-chief  is  appointed, 
with  lieutenants  to  the  several  divisions.  The  arms 
are  rifles  and  a  few  field-pieces,  of  which  latter  the 
savages  have  a  great  terror.  Buffaloes  and  Indians 
are  met  with  in  the  same  regions,  but  the  former 
are  much  the  more  welcome  strangers  of  the  two. 
Sometimes  the  adventurers  encounter  a  grizzly  bear, 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  this  animal,  ferocious  as  he 
has  been  represented,  often  attempts  to  attack  even  the 
stragglers  of  a  caravan.  Since  1831,  few  or  none  of 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  which  once  attended  this 
trade,  have  been  experienced.  No  traders  have  been 


COMMERCE  BY  CARAVANS.          235 

killed  by  the  savages  on  the  regular  route,  and  hut 
few  animals  have  been  stolen  from  the  caravans. 
The  rates  of  insurance  upon  adventures  of  this  kind, 
should  be  hardly  as  high  as  from  the  United  States  to 
Liverpool. 

The  following  are   the  statistics  of  the  Santa  Fe 
caravan  trade  for  ten  years. 

Value  of  Goods  Exported.  Wagons.  Men. 

1833  .  .  .  $180,000  ...  105  ...  185 

1834  .  .  .  150,000  ...  80  ...  160 

1835  .  .  .  140,000  ...  75  ...  140 

1836  .  .  .  130,000  ...  70  ...  135 

1837  .  .  .  150,000  ...  80  ...  160 

1838  .  .  .  90,000  ...  50  ...  100 

1839  .  .  .  250,000  ...  130  ...  250 

1840  .  .  .  50,000  ...  30  ...  60 

1841  .  .  .  150,000  ...  60  ...  100 

1842  .  .  .  160,000  ...  70  ...  120 

1843  .  .  450,000  ...  230      .  350 


MINING. 


THE  art  of  mining  seems  to  have  been  known  to  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Egyptians.  Gold  and  silver  were 
abundant  in  those  days.  An  alloy  of  copper  and  tin 
formed  the  armor  and  weapons  of  the  Greeks,  although 
iron  was  not  unknown  among  them,  and  of  this  metal 
the  weapons  of  the  Romans  were  formed.  These 
facts,  however,  do  not  imply  any  great  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  mining,  properly  so  called,  as  it  is  well  known 
that  metalliferous  deposites  are  often  found  near  the 
surface,  as  gold  and  copper,  frequently  in  a  state  of 


MINING.  237 

great  purity ;  and  in  early  ages  when  they  had  been 
so  little  sought  for  by  the  miners,  these  superficial 
deposites  must  have  been  much  more  abundant  than 
at  present,  and  probably  furnished  a  large  proportion 
of  the  metallic  produce  of  those  times.  Most  of  the 
mines  of  antiquity  were  probably  of  a  similar  nature 
to  the  stream-works  of  Cornwall ;  and  it  appears  from 
Strabo,  that  the  Phenicians  used  to  trade  to  that  place 
for  tin  and  lead. 

In  early  times  the  demand  for  the  metals  could  not 
have  been  very  great ;  they  were  applied  chiefly  to  the 
manufacture  of  instruments  of  luxury  or  war,  so  that 
the  quantity  found  near  the  surface  was  in  all  proba- 
bility fully  adequate,  leaving  but  little  inducement  for 
deeper  and  more  laborious  research.  There  is,  how- 
ever, evidence  to  show  that  operations  similar  to  those 
of  modern  mining,  were  carried  on  by  the  nations  of  an- 
tiquity. Herodotus  states  that  a  mountain  in  the 
island  of  Thasos  was  completely  burrowed  by  the 
Phenicians  in  their  search  for  the  precious  metals  ;  and 
the  curious  fragment  of  Agatharchides,  preserved  in 
Diodoms,  shows  that  the  art  of  forming  shafts  and 
passages  for  exploring  the  mines  and  procuring  metals, 
was  well  known  in  Egypt.  The  silver  mines  of 
Laurium,  in  Attica,  were  worked  by  the  Athenians  as 
early  as  the  fourth  century  before  Christ.  Under  the 
Romans,  the  quicksilver  mines  of  Almaden,  in  Spain, 
were  extensively  wrought. 

The  tin  of  Cornwall  was  undoubtedly  the  first  metal 
sought  after  in  Britain  ;  and  the  ores  of  tin  are  still 
found  there  at  various  depths.  After  the  processes 
for  finding  and  separating  metallic  ores  from  alluvial 


238 


MINING. 


matter  in  which  they  were  casually  mixed,  the  next 
step  was  to  procure  them  by  digging  out  the  veins 
themselves  and  following  them  into  the  solid  rocks  in 
which  they  are  formed.  At  first,  this  could  only  have 
been  done  where,  by  the  elevation  of  the  mountains,  it 
was  possible  to  work  high  enough  for  the  waters  to 
discharge  themselves  by  conduits  or  adits  from  the 
works,  and  where  the  rock  was  not  too  hard  to  yield 
to  tools  rudely  formed,  or  perhaps  to  the  agency  of 
fire.  It  was  not  till  machines  were  applied  to  pump 
the  waters,  that  the  metals  could  be  followed  to  any 
considerable  depth,  and  not  until  gunpowder  had  fur- 
nished the  means  of  splitting  the  hardest  rock,  that 
man  was  enabled  to  penetrate  the  strata  of  every 
description  that  opposed  his  progress. 

These  inventions,  therefore,  form  most  important 
epochs  in  the  history  of  mining;  for  since  man- 
kind have  called  in  the  assistance  of  such  powerful 
agents,  neither  the  influx  of  constantly  flowing  water, 
nor  the  barriers  which  the  hardest  rock  can  present, 
are  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  miner,  where  rich  and 
productive  mines  of  ore  tempt  the  pursuit.  The  first 
important  era  was  the  period  in  which  the  application 
of  gunpowder  to  the  purposes  of  mining  took  place, 
which  happened  in  Hungary  or  Germany  about  the 
year  1620,  and  was  first  introduced  into  England  at 
the  copper-mine  of  Ecton  in  Staffordshire,  about  1670, 
by  some  German  miners.  There  are  many  mines  which 
could  not  possibly  have  been  worked  without  the  aid  of 
gunpowder,  and  until  it  was  used,  subterranean  opera- 
tions must  have  been  difficult  and  very  uncertain.  The 
hammer  and  wedges  were  probably  the  first  instru- 


MINING.  239 

ments  employed  for  splitting  rocks,  and  these  were 
followed  by  the  pick,  which  is  used  both  as  a  hammer 
and  a  wedge.  Many  tools  of  oak  have  been  occasion- 
ally met  with,  which,  according  to  the  traditions  of  the 
Cornish  miners,  were  used  by  the  Saxons  or  Danes. 
Wedges  of  dry  wood  were  used  by  driving  them  into 
clefts  of  the  rock,  and  then  wetting  them  so  as  to  cause 
them  to  swell,  and  thus,  by  repeated  similar  insertions, 
to  force  the  rock  asunder. 

The  means  employed  for  raising  or  throwing  up  the 
ores  and  waste  stuff  to  the  surface,  were  at  first  as 
rude  as  the  other  operations  of  mining.  The  wind- 
lass and  bucket  may  be  reckoned  an  improvement 
which  took  place  in  a  later  stage  of  mining,  as  simple 
a  thing  as  it  certainly  is  :  it  is  now  in  a  great  measure 
superseded  by  more  effective  machinery.  In  South 
America  the  windlass  is  even  yet  hardly  known,  and 
the  ores  are  either  brought  up  by  Indians,  or  where 
the  situation  admits  of  sloping  roads  being  made  to  the 
bottom  of  the  mine,  are  conveyed  to  the  surface  on  the 
backs  of  mules.  When  mines  were  worked  deep,  the 
labor  of  raising  the  water  which  was  constantly  col- 
lecting, became  too  great  for  mere  manual  exertion, 
and  hydraulic  machines  were  employed  for  the  pur- 
pose. The  German  miners  seem  to  have  had  the 
merit  of  this  invention,  yet  it  remains  in  the  original 
rude  state  in  that  country.  The  English  miners  have 
improved  the  pump-work  and  water  engines  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection  ;  and  there  are  single  mines  in 
England  which  discharge  as  much  water  as  the  pumps 
of  a  whole  province  of  German  mines.  The  invention 
of  the  steam-engine  gave  to  the  miner  a  power  capable 


240  MINING. 

of  universal  application,  and  of  an  effect  that  added,  as 
it  were,  new  regions  of  subterranean  country  to  his  con- 
trol. Depths  hitherto  unattainable  are  now  placed  at 
his  command,  and  no  limit  can  be  assigned  to  his 
exertion  but  that  of  the  expense  compared  with  the 
value  of  the  produce. 

The  miner's  object,  in  his  first  operations  is  to  get 
at  some  shoot  or  branch  of  ore  as  quickly  as  possible. 
As  soon,  therefore,  as  indications  of  a  vein  of  metal  are 
perceived  on  the  surface,  the  most  promising  spot  is 
chosen  for  the  commencement  of  a  shaft,  which  is 
either  sunk  upon  the  vein  so  as  to  follow  its  dip  and 
underlay,  or  otherwise  is  carried  down  perpendicularly 
from  some  spot  on  the  side  to  which  it  dips,  so  as  to 
intersect  it  at  a  given  depth,  and  this  is  usually  called 
an  underlayer.  As  water  is  commonly  soon  met  with 
in  such  quantities  as  to  impede  the  workmen,  means 
for  removing  it  must  be  provided.  Where  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  ground  will  admit  of  an  adit,  or  water- 
level  being  made,  this  is  usually  first  put  in  practice. 
Where  the  shaft  becomes  deeper  than  the  adit,  steam- 
engines  to  draw  out  the  wrater  are  erected,  or  overshot 
•wheels,  when  streams  to  drive  them  can  be  obtained ; 
these  engines  are  employed  to  work  pumps. 

As  soon  as  the  shaft  is  sunk  sufficiently  deep,  and 
it  becomes  desirable  to  pursue  the  work  horizontally, 
the  shaft  is  suspended  for  a  time,  and  a  level  opening 
is  commenced  on  each  side  of  it ;  this  is  usually  con- 
tiued  in  two  opposite  directions  upon  the  course  of  the 
vein.  The  ends  of  this  level  being  driven  out  of  the 
way  of  the  shaft,  sinking  may  be  again  undertaken, 
and  continued  until  it  is  proper  to  drive  another  level ; 


MINING. 


241 


and  thus  a  succession  of  these  galleries  or  drifts  are 
opened  under  each  other,  and  the  vein  is  divided  into 
parallel  portions  which  are  left  to  be  worked  for  the 
ore  contained  in  them,  and  which  portions  are  called 
backs.  New  openings  to  the  surface  from  these  levels 
are  afterwards  made  by  sinking  more  shafts  at  proper 
distances,  and  communications  from  one  level  to 
another  are  formed  by  sinking  a  kind  of  small  under- 
ground shaft. 

When  a  mine  is  put  into  this  state,  and  any  quan- 
tity of  ore  is  discovered,  proper  engines  are  provided 
with  sufficient  power  to  admit  the  constant  deepening 
of  the  mine  by  keeping  the  bottom  dry,  so  as  to  be 
regularly  sinking.  When  the  ventilation  is  com- 
pleted by  proper  means  for  that  purpose,  and  machines 
are  constructed  for  drawing  up  the  ore  and  waste,  the 
mine  is  considered  to  be  in  due  course  of  working. 
The  shafts  and  levels  are  kept  regularly  sinking  and 
driving,  to  lead  to  further  discovery;  or  to  open  more 
of  the  lode  or  vein  for  working;  and  the  parts  of 
the  vein  left  between  the  passages  thus  made  are 
worked  away  where  the  ore  will  pay  the  expense. 

In  preparing  the  ores  for  smelting,  a  variety  of  ope- 
rations must  be  gone  through,  which  require  the  labor 
of  many  hands  ;  these  are  carried  on  upon  the  surface, 
sometimes  by  women  and  children.  It  is  necessary 
to  separate  the  ore  from  the  earth  and  its  impurities ; 
the  better  parts  are  broken  to  a  proper  size  for  smelt- 
ing by  hammers,  or  by  iron  cylinders  set  in  motion  by 
water.  For  the  coarser  parts,  much  more  labor  is 
required  in  pounding,  sifting,  washing,  &c.  The 
"stamping-mills"  and  other  apparatus  for  dressing 
p  xvin. — 21 


242 


MINING. 


the  ore,  are  usually  fixed  as  near  the  mouths  of  the 
shafts  on  the  surface  as  possible,  consistently  with  the 
power  of  leading  streams  of  water  to  them.  The 
erections  on  the  surface  of  a  mine  comprise  steam  or 
water  engines,  stamping-mills,  sheds,  forges,  carpen- 
ters' shops,  &c. 

Such  is  a  general  description  of  a  mine  in  Corn- 
wall, where  the  art  has  been  carried  to  the  greatest 
perfection.  Some  mines  here  employ  over  two  thou- 
sand persons,  and  have  several  steam  engines  con- 
stantly at  work.  In  Devonshire,  streams  of  water 
being  at  hand,  large  overshot  wheels  are  employed  for 
working  the  pumps,  and  some  of  them  are  equal  in 
power  to  the  larger  steam  engines. 

We  cannot  give  a  better  idea  of  the  mines  of  Corn- 
wall, than  by  copying  the  description  furnished  by  Pro- 
fessor Silliman,  who  descended  one  of  them  some 
years  since.  "  I  prepared  for  my  descent  by  throw- 
ing off  my  own  dress  and  putting  on  that  of  the  miners. 
It  consisted  of  a  very  large  shirt  of  very  coarse  mate- 
rials, and  made  like  the  frocks  of  the  Connecticut 
farmers  ;  then  of  a  pair  of  large  sailor  trousers  striped 
across  with  white  and  black,  of  the  coarsest  stuff  which 
is  here  employed  for  horse-blankets ;  and  over  all  was 
a  loose  coat,  which  like  the  rest  of  my  apparel  exhib- 
ited the  strongest  evidence  that  it  had  often  been  below 
the  surface.  I  wore  a  pair  of  cowskin  shoes  without 
stockings,  made  fast  by  tow  strings  passing  under  the 
sole  and  over  the  instep.  Over  my  head  they  drew  a 
white  cap  which  they  crowned  with  an  old  hat  without 
a  brim.  Besides  the  captain  I  had  another  guide,  an 
experienced  miner,  who  went  before,  while  the  cap- 


MINING.  243 

tain  followed  me.  Each  of  them  carried  a  supply  of 
candles  tied  to  a  button-hole,  and  like  them,  I  bore  a 
lighted  candle  in  my  left  hand  stuck  into  a  mass  of 
wet  clay. 

"  The  mines  of  Cornwall  are  of  much  more  difficult 
access  than  those  of  Derbyshire,  for  instead  of  going  hor- 
izontally, or  with  only  a  gentle  descent  into  the  side  of  a 
mountain,  we  are  obliged  to  go  perpendicularly  down 
the  shaft,  which  is  a  pit  formed  by  digging  and  blast- 
ing, and  exactly  resembles  a  well,  except  in  its  greater 
depth  and  varying  size,  which  is  sometimes  greater 
and  sometimes  smaller,  according  to  circumstances. 
The  descent  is  by  means  of  ladders ;  at  the  termina- 
tion of  each  ladder,  there  is  commonly  a  resting  place 
formed  by  a  piece  of  timber  or  a  plank  fixed  across, 
on  the  stones  or  earth  which  form  the  walls  of  the  pit ; 
this  supports  the  ladder  above,  and  from  it  the  adven- 
turer steps  on  to  the  ladder  below.  With  each  a 
lighted  candle  so  held  by  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of 
the  left  hand  as  to  leave  the  other  three  fingers  at 
liberty  to  grasp  the  rounds  of  the  ladder,  and  with  the 
right  hand  devoted  wholly  to  the  same  service,  we 
commenced  our  descent. 

"  It  was  laborious  and  hazardous,  but  we  did  not  stop 
till  we  had  descended  400  feet.  The  rounds  of  the  lad- 
ders are  constantly  wet  and  muddy,  and  therefore 
very  slippery;  many  of  them,  through  length  of  time, 
are  decayed  and  worn  so  very  small,  that  they  seem 
on  the  point  of  giving  way.  In  descending  perpendi- 
cularly with  these  disadvantages,  the  utmost  caution 
is  therefore  requisite  on  the  part  of  a  novice,  lest  he 
should  quit  his  foothold  before  he  has  a  firm  grasp 


244  MINING. 

with  his  fingers,  or  lest  in  the  dim  twilight  shed  by 
his  candle,  he  should  make  a  false  aim  with  his  foot  or 
hand,  or  take  an  imperfect  and  untenable  hold  with 
either ;  not  to  mention  the  danger  of  the  giving  way 
of  the  rounds  of  the  ladder ;  any  of  which  accidents 
would  send  him  to  a  place  whence  he  would  not  re- 
turn. 

"  When  I  first  began  to  descend,  I  made  it  very  labo- 
rious by  drawing  my  body  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
ladder,  thus  imposing  on  the  muscles  of  the  arms  and 
chest  the  painful  task  of  supporting  me,  with  my 
arms  bent  in  quite  an  acute  angle ;  but  my  guides 
instructed  me  to  hang  off  from  the  ladder  as  far  as 
possible,  thus  keeping  the  arms  straight ;  and  it  is  in- 
credible how  much  it  diminished  the  labor  of  the  mus- 
cles. Having  arrived  at  the  depth  of  400  feet,  we 
came  to  what  the  miners  call  an  adit  or  level,  that  is, 
a  passage  running  horizontally  or  at  right  angles  with 
the  shaft.  This  passage  had  been  made  through  the 
solid  rock,  and  was  high  enough  to  allow  us  to  pass 
along  stooping,  which  we  did  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, when  the  sound  of  human  voices  from  below 
indicated  our  approach  to  the  populous  regions  of  mid- 
night ;  while  the  rattling  of  mechanical  instruments 
employed  in  breaking  off  the  ore,  and  the  report  from 
the  explosion  of  gunpowder  reverberated  along  these 
narrow  caverns,  with  the  sulphureous  and  suffocating 
smoke,  presented  a  combination  of  circumstances, 
which  might  well  have  given  one  the  impression  that 
he  had  arrived  in  a  worse  place  than  the  mine  of  Dol- 
goath. 

"  Proceeding  along  the  adit,  we  came  to  another  shaft 


MINING.  245 

down  which  we  descended  200  feet  more,  and  were 
then  full  600  feet  from  the  surface.  This  was  the 
principal  scene  of  labor ;  at  about  this  depth  there  were 
great  numbers  of  miners  engaged  in  their  respective 
employments.  Some  were  boring  the  rock;  others 
charging  with  gunpowder  the  holes  already  made ; 
others  knocking  off  the  ore  with  hammers,  or  prying 
it  with  pickaxes ;  others  loading  the  buckets  with  ore 
to  be  drawn  to  the  surface ;  others  working  the  wind- 
lasses to  raise  the  rubbish  from  one  level  to  another, 
and  ultimately  to  the  top ; — in  short  all  were  busy ; 
and  although  to  us  their  employment  seems  only  an- 
other name  for  wretchedness,  they  appeared  quite  a 
contented  and  cheerful  class  of  people.  In  their  mari- 
ners they  are  gentle  and  uncommonly  civil,  and  most 
of  them  paid  me  some  mark  of  respect  as  a  stranger. 

"  We  occupied  three  hours  in  exploring  the  mine,  and 
in  this  time  travelled  a  mile  under  ground  in  various 
directions.  The  employment  was  extremely  laborious. 
We  could  rarely  walk  erect ;  often  we  were  obliged  to 
crawl  on  our  hands  and  knees,  over  sharp,  rugged 
stones,  and  frequently  it  was  necessary  to  lie  down 
flat  and  to  work  our  way  along  by  the  points  of  the 
elbows,  and  the  extremities  of  the  toes,  like  seals  on  a 
beach.  At  one  time  we  descended,  and  at  another 
ascended  through  a  narrow  aperture,  where  we  could 
only  with  difficulty  squeeze  ourselves  through,  and  we 
then  continued  our  progress  by  stepping  on  the  pro- 
jections of  the  rock,  as  men  do  in  going  up  or  down  a 
well.  My  perspiration  was  so  violent,  that  streams 
literally  ran  from  my  nose,  locks,  and  chin,  and  in 
this  state  we  came  to  the  channel  where  the  water  of 
21* 


246  MINING. 

the  mine  flows  off  through  which  we  were  obliged  to 
wade  along,  half  leg  deep  for  thirty  rods. 

"  Having  seen  all  the  interesting  things  of  the  place, 
we  began  to  ascend.  We  were  drawn  up  a  small 
part  of  the  way  in  a  bucket  worked  by  a  windlass,  but 
we  went  up  principally  by  ladders  in  a  shaft  quite  re- 
mote from  that  in  which  we  descended.  It  was  that 
in  which  the  rod  of  the  steam-engine  plays  to  draw  up 
the  water.  This  engine  is  one  of  great  magnitude. 
The  rod,  which  is  made  of  pieces  of  timber,  and  at 
the  top  cannot  be  less  than  five  or  six  feet  in  diam- 
eter, descends  perpendicularly  180  fathoms,  or  1080 
feet,  and  motion  is  propagated  through  this  whole  dis- 
tance so  as  to  raise  a  weight  of  30,000  pounds  at  every 
stroke,  for  this  is  the  power  of  the  engine.  At  length 
after  a  most  laborious  and  painful  ascent,  less  hazard- 
ous it  is  true,  but  incomparably  more  fatiguing  than 
the  descent,  we  reached  the  surface  in  safety,  at  a 
great  distance  from  the  place  where  we  first  descended. 
With  joy,  with  gratitude,  I  beheld  the  returning  light 
of  heaven,  and  though  I  could  not  think  that,  in  my  case, 
the  enterprise  was  rash,  I  should  certainly  dissuade 
any  friend  from  gratifying  mere  curiosity  at  so  much 
hazard.  The  danger  is  serious,  even  to  the  miners, 
for  by  explosions,  falls,  by  mephitic  gases,  and  other 
causes  connected  with  the  nature  of  the  employments, 
numbers  of  the  people  are  carried  off  every  year,  and 
on  this  account,  Redruth  and  its  vicinity  have  an 
uncommon  proportion  of  widows  and  orphans." 


COAL    MINES.  247 


COAL  MINES. 

IN  working  mines  of  coal  or  rock-salt,  the  process 
differs  considerably  from  the  working  of  most  metallic 
veins  where  the  object  of  search  is  fluctuating  and 
irregular  in  its  produce,  and  either  vertical  or  highly 
inclined  in  its  position.  The  design  in  coal  mines  is 
the  effectual  opening  and  extraction  of  a  tolerably 
uniform  mass,  generally  of  small  thickness,  but  of  great 
horizontal  extension.  The  thickness  of  beds  of  coal 
may  be  said  to  vary  from  three  to  nine  feet,  although 
sometimes,  when  several  seams  come  together  without 
any  intervening  layers  of  rock,  they  may  expand  to 
twenty  or  thirty  feet.  In  every  coal  field  there  are 
several  seams  of  coal  at  greater  or  less  intervals,  one 
below  another,  of  which  as  many  as  three  or  four  are 
frequently  worked  in  the  same  mine  ;  and  interstrati- 
fied  with  the  rock  which  divides  them,  there  are  in 
many  coal  fields,  extremely  productive  beds  of  iron- 
stone, which  are  wrought  at  the  same  time,  and  in  a 
similar  manner  with  the  coal. 

The  probable  existence  of  beds  of  coal  having 
been  determined,  and  perhaps  the  beds  themselves 
discovered  by  boring,  the  first  process  is  to  sink  a  per- 
pendicular shaft  from  the  surface,  so  as  to  inter- 
sect the  various  strata  containing  the  coal,  and  of 
course,  as  many  of  the  beds  of  coal  as  are  considered 
to  be  worth  the  working.  The  shaft  is  generally  cir- 
cular, and  may  vary  according  to  circumstances,  from 
six  to  ten  feet  in  diameter.  The  upper  portion  as  far 


248  COAL    MINES. 

down  as  the  solid  rock,  is  either  bricked  or  walled,  and 
where  the  ground  is  weak,  this  casing  is  continued 
throughout.  On  reaching  the  first  workable  seam  of 
coal,  the  sinking  of  the  pit  is  for  a  time  suspended, 
and  a  broad,  straight  passage,  termed  a  bord,  or  gate, 
is  driven  from  it  upon  the  seams  of  coal  in  opposite 
directions.  The  breadth  of  this  passage  is  usually 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet,  and  it  is  formed  the  whole 
height  of  the  seam  of  coal,  so  as  to  expose  the  stratum 
above,  which  is  called  the  "  roof,"  and  the  one  below 
which  is  termed  the  "  thill"  and  its  direction  is  always 
arranged  so  as  to  follow  the  clearage  of  the  coal  which 
forms  its  sides,  which  thus  present  a  clean,  uniform 
surface.  When  the  "  bord"  or  "  mother-gate"  has 
proceeded  some  distance  on  both  sides  of  the  pit,  nar- 
row passages,  termed  "  headways,"  are  driven  from  it 
at  regular  intervals,  and  exactly  at  right  angles  ;  and 
when  these  have  proceeded  eight  or  ten  yards,  they 
are  made  to  communicate  with  another  bord,  which  is 
opened  parallel  to  the  first  and  on  each  side  of  it.  By 
continuing  this  system  of  excavation  the  bed  is  entirely 
laid  open  and  intersected  by  a  series  of  broad  parallel 
passages,  about  eight  yards  apart,  communicating  with 
each  other  by  narrower  passages  or  headways,  which 
cross  them  at  rigbt  angles,  and  likewise  traverse  the 
whole  extent  of  the  mines ;  immense  squares  or  rec- 
tangular pillars  of  coal  being  left  standing  between 
the  two.  A  coal  mine  in  this  state  is  in  fact  not  unlike 
a  regularly  built  town  :  the  bords  and  headways 
may  be  compared  to  the  streets,  while  the  pillars  of  coal 
may  be  said  to  resemble  the  intermediate  masses  of 
buildings. 


COAL   MINES.  249 

Coal  mining  is  a  much  more  dangerous  process  than 
the  operations  in  other  mines.  It  is  well  known  that 
coal  mines,  especially  such  as  are  deep,  are  occasion- 
ally infested  with  a  gaseous  air  called  "  fire-damp," 
the  chemical  name  of  which  is  carburetted  hydrogen. 
By  contact  with  fire  this  gas  explodes,  causing  the 
most  frightful  destruction  of  life ;  and  the  accidents 
of  this  sort  which  have  happened  in  the  Newcastle 
collieries  and  other  mining  regions  in  England,  are 
innumerable.  Many  contrivances  have  been  proposed 
to  prevent  these  fatal  occurrences,  but  the  only  one 
that  has  been  judged  safe,  and  come  into  general  use, 
is  the  safety  lamp  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  who  first 
analyzed  and  ascertained  the  properties  of  the  fire- 
damp. This  able  chemist  discovered  on  investigation 
that  it  required  an  admixture  of  a  large  quantity  of 
atmospheric  air  to  render  it  explosive,  and  when  mixed 
with  four  times  its  bulk  of  air,  it  burst  quietly  in  the 
atmosphere ;  with  between  five  and  six  times  it  ex- 
ploded feebly ;  with  seven  or  eight  times  the  explosion 
was  strong ;  and  when  mixed  with  even  fourteen 
times  its  bulk  of  air,  the  compound  was  still  explosive. 
Proceeding  with  his  experiments,  Davy  ascertained 
that  explosions  of  inflammable  gases  were  incapable 
of  being  passed  through  long,  narrow  metallic  tubes  ; 
and  that  this  principle  of  security  was  still  obtained  by 
diminishing  their  length  and  diameter  at  the  same  time, 
so  that  a  great  number  of  small  apertures  would  not 
pass  explosion  when  their  depth  was  equal  to  their 
diameter.  This  fact  led  to  trials  made  with  sieves 
of  wire  gauze,  and  he  found  that  if  a  piece  of  the 
latter  was  held  over  the  flame  of  a  lamp  or  of  coal 


250  COAL     MINES. 

gas,  it  prevented  this  from  passing;  he  also  ascer- 
tained that  a  flame,  confined  in  a  cylinder  of  any 
fine  gauze  did  not  explode  even  a  mixture  of  oxygen 
and  hydrogen,  while  they  burnt  in  it  with  great  viva- 
city. These  experiments  served  as  the  basis  of  the 
safety  lamp,  which  was  long  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  important  discoveries  of  the  present  age  ;  though 
its  utility  was  no  doubt  overrated. 

In  the  safety  lamp  the  apertures  in  the  gauze  should 
not  be  more  than  the  22d  part  of  an  inch  square.  As 
the  fire-damp  is  not  inflated  by  ignited  wire,  the 
thickness  of  the  wire  is  not  important,  but  wire  from 
3*tf  to  sV  of  an  inch  in  diameter  is  the  most  conven- 
ient. When  the  lamp  is  lighted  and  introduced  into 
an  atmosphere  gradually  mixed  with  fire-damp,  the 
first  effect  is  an  increase  in  the  size  of  the  flame. 
When  the  inflammable  gas  forms  as  much  as  ^  of 
the  volume  of  the  air,  the  cylinder  becomes  filled  with 
a  feeble  blue  flame,  but  the  flame  of  the  wick  appears 
burning  brightly  within  this  blue  flame,  and  the  light 
of  the  wick  continues  till  the  fire-damp  increases  to 
^  or  1-,  when  it  is  lost  in  the  flame  of  the  fire-damp, 
which  in  this  case  fills  the  cylinder  with  a  pretty 
strong  light.  When  the  foul  air  constitutes  •£  of  the 
atmosphere,  it  is  no  longer  fit  for  respiration. 

It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  this  valuable  in- 
vention has  had  the  effect  of  saving  the  lives  of  the 
miners,  but  the  contrary ;  for  by  trusting  to  it  for  pro- 
tection they  now  venture  into  places  which  were  for- 
merly regarded  as  far  too  dangerous  to  approach,  and 
which  even  now,  are  entered  with  great  hazard  of  life. 

As  an  example  of  the  numerous  catastrophes  which 


COAL   MINES.  251 

have  happened  to  miners,  we  may  mention  the  fol- 
lowing. The  town  of  St.  Etienne,  in  France,  has 
acquired,  by  its  manufactures  of  iron  and  silk,  the 
appellation  of  the  Birmingham  and  Coventry  of  France. 
Though  very  far  from  contemptible,  it  is  however, 
at  most,  only  a  miniature  likeness  of  the  two  celebrated 
towns  to  which  it  is  compared.  For  its  prosperity, 
it  is  indebted  to  the  circumstance  of  the  iron  ore  and 
coal  being  abundant  in  its  vicinity.  Among  the  coal 
mines  in  its  immediate  neighborhood,  is  that  of  Bois 
Monzil,  the  scene  of  the  event  which  is  now  to  be  de- 
scribed. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  183 1,  about  eight  in  the 
morning,  when  there  were  twenty-six  men  at  work,  a 
sudden  detonation  was  heard,  instantly  followed  by 
the  roar  of  water,  rushing  from  the  adjoining  pit. 
The  cry  of  alarm  was  quickly  spread  through  the 
mine,  but  only  ten  of  the  laborers  were  able  to  reach 
the  entrance.  One  of  them  was  driven  forward  with 
such  violence,  by  the  condensed  air  and  the  torrent, 
that  his  escape  was  miraculous ;  another  was  so  terri- 
fied, that  he  hurried  forward,  without  thinking  to  dis- 
encumber himself  of  a  sack  of  coals  which  he  had 
upon  his  shoulders ;  a  third,  who  possessed  both  pres- 
ence of  mind  and  humanity,  snatched  up  a  boy  of 
eleven  years  old  and  bore  him  away  in  his  arms. 

Eight  individuals  perished.  Some  of  them  were 
swept  away  by  the  deluge — but  at  least  one  of  them 
had  to  endure  a  lingering  death.  He  was  heard  for 
some  hours  knocking  against  the  sides  of  his  pris- 
on ;  at  the  end  of  that*  time  the  knocking  ceased — 
the  flood  had  overwhelmed  him.  The  remaining 


252  COAL   MINES. 

eight  workmen  were  fortunate  enough  to  reach  a  gal- 
lery on  a  higher  level ;  but,  as  it  had  no  other  outlet 
than  that  by  which  they  entered,  their  fate  was  cer- 
tain, unless  the  water  should  recede,  or  their  friends 
could  open  a  passage  through  the  rock  beneath  them. 

On  hearing  of  the  accident,  the  engineers  of  the  mine 
hastened  with  their  assistants  to  the  spot.  Thirty 
hours  elapsed  before  the  miners  could  penetrate  into 
some  of  the  lower  galleries  from  which  the  water  had 
retired.  They  repeatedly  called  aloud  to  their  lost 
companions,  but  no  voice  was  heard  in  reply.  They 
then  struck  with  their  pickaxes  upon  the  roof,  and 
after  several  fruitless  trials,  they  were  rejoiced  to  hear 
an  equal  number  of  answering  knocks. 

Measures  were  immediately  adopted  for  opening  a 
communication  with  the  imprisoned  men ;  the  princi- 
pal of  them  were  the  boring  a  hole  through  the  rock, 
in  the  supposed  direction  whence  the  sound  came,  and 
the  forming  of  an  inclined  tunnel.  But  there  was 
much  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  point  to  which  they 
ought  to  direct  their  efforts ;  for  the  sound  of  their 
blows  on  the  roof,  far  from  offering  a  certain  criterion, 
or  at  least  a  probable  one,  seemed  each  time  to  excite 
fresh  doubts.  The  rock,  too,  was  so  hard  and  thick, 
that  the  gunpowder  employed  in  blasting  it  produced 
but  a  trifling  effect;  nor  could  the  pumps  be  got  to 
work,  and  they  were  therefore  obliged  to  resort  to  the 
slow  and  incompetent  method  of  forming  a  line  of  men 
from  the  gallery  to  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  and  pass- 
ing the  buckets  from  hand  to  hand. 

The  persons  who  were  thus  employed,  had  to  work 
upon  a  rapid  slope,  in  a  crouching  posture,  with  the 


COAL    MINES.  253 

water  dropping  all  round  them,  and  generally  rising 
up  to  the  middle  of  their  bodies.  They  had  to  endure 
that  which  was  still  worse  to  men  not  devoid  of  hu- 
manity. The  wives  of  the  hapless  miners  had  heard 
that  all  hope  was  not  extinct,  and  they  hastened  to  the 
spot.  With  heart-rending  cries,  and  shedding  tears 
alternately  of  despaii  and  hope,  they  exclaimed,  "  Are 
they  all  there  ?  Where  is  the  father  of  my  children  ? 
Is  he  amongst  them,  or  has  he  heen  swallowed  up  by 
the  waters  ? " 

When  it  became  known  at  St.  Etienne  and  its 
vicinity,  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  saving  a  part  of 
the  victims,  the  whole  of  the  National  Guards,  and 
several  hundreds  of  miners  and  other  persons,  throng- 
ed to  lend  their  assistance.  The  pumps  were  now  made 
to  work,  and  the  line  of  men  with  buckets  was  conse- 
quently discontinued.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  num- 
ber of  additional  hands,  the  work  proceeded  but 
slowly.  Such  was  the  flinty  hardness  of  the  rock, 
that  frequently  the  tools  either  broke,  or  remained  im- 
movably fixed  in  the  stone.  The  water  also  filtered 
in  rapidly  through  the  perforation  which  they  were 
making,  and  seemed  to  threaten  another  irruption. 

It  was  now  Sunday,  and  the  spirits  of  the  workmen 
began  to  flag.  On  the  following  day  an  alarming 
incident  occurred  which  spread  a  general  panic.  A 
terrific  noise  was  heard,  which  was  prolonged  in 
echoes  throughout  the  mine.  When  their  terror  had 
sufficiently  subsided  to  allow  of  their  investigating  its 
cause,  they  found  that  an  enormous  mass  of  rock  had 
fallen  into  one  of  the  draining  wells.  Though  this 
fall  was  attended  by  no  bad  consequences,  the  work- 
xviii. — 22 


254  COAL   MINES. 

men  were  so  much  disheartened  by  it,  that  it  required 
much  management  to  bring  them  back  to  their  labors, 
and  revive  their  courage  and  perseverance. 

By  dint  of  persuasion  and  argument,  the  superin- 
tendents at  length  prevailed  on  the  men  to  make  a 
vigorous  effort.  In  a  very  short  time,  that  exertion  was 
crowned  with  success.  The  instrument  of  one  of  the 
miners  penetrated  into  the  shut-up  gallery,  and  was 
drawn  from  his  hands  by  the  poor  imprisoned  miners. 
But  the  man  who  had  thus  been  the  first  to  open  a 
way  into  the  dungeon,  was  still  more  unfortunate  than 
they  were.  At  the  moment  when  hope  dawned  to 
them,  it  set  forever  to  him.  He  was  the  father  of  one 
of  the  men  who  had  disappeared  in  the  mine.  His 
paternal  feelings  seemed  to  have  endowed  him  with 
superhuman  strength.  Night  and  day  he  quitted  his 
work  only  for  a  few  moments  to  return  to  it  with 
redoubled  vigor. 

One  absorbing  thought  occupied  his  whole  soul; 
the  idea  that  his  son,  his  only  son,  was  with  those 
who  were  heard  from  within.  In  vain  he  was  solicited 
to  retire ;  in  vain  they  strove  to  force  him  from  labors 
too  fatiguing  for  his  age.  "  My  son  is  among  them," 
said  he  ;  "I  hear  him ;  nothing  shall  prevent  me  from 
hastening  to  his  release ; "  and  from  time  to  time  he 
called  on  his  son,  in  accents  that  tore  the  hearts  of  the 
by-standers.  His  first  question,  on  the  instrument 
being  drawn  from  his  hand,  was,  "  My  child  !  "  His 
Antoine  was  no  more ;  he  had  been  drowned. 

For  four  days,  medical  men  had  been  present  in  the 
mine,  to  be  ready  to  give  their  aid,  as  soon  as  a  pas- 
sage should  be  opened.  They  now  directed  soup  to 


COAL    MINES.  255 

be  introduced  through  a  tube,  and  air  to  be  forced  into 
the  gallery  by  means  of  bellows.  Food  was,  however, 
by  no  means  the  most  urgent  want  of  the  captives ; 
light  was  what  they  first  and  most  pressingly  requested. 
A  tinder-box  was  conveyed  to  them,  but  the  vitiated 
air  rendered  it  of  no  use.  At  first,  they  seemed  to  be 
strengthened  by  the  soup,  of  which  they  had  made 
their  oldest  and  weakest  companions  the  earliest  par- 
takers ;  but  afterwards  it  had  a  contrary  effect.  They 
therefore  for  the  present  rejected  the  nourishment 
which  was  occasionally  applied,  and  expressed  but  one 
wish,  which  was  that  their  friends  would  make  haste. 
Yet  one  at  least  there  was,  who  had  not  lost  all  his 
gaiety.  This  was  a  man,  named  Fereol.  When  he 
was  asked  what  day  he  thought  it  was,  he  replied, 
"  Sunday ; "  and  upon  being  told  it  was  Monday,  he 
rejoined,  "Ah,  I  ought  to  have  kno>vn  that — for  yes- 
terday we  indulged  ourselves  by  tippling  freely — of 
water." 

But  though  some  of  them  retained  their  cheerful- 
ness, the  strength  of  all  was  rapidly  failing.  Their 
utterance  grew  gradually  more  faint ;  and  about  six  in 
the  evening,  the  last  words  that  could  be  distinguished 
were,  "  Brothers,  make  haste."  By  ten  in  the  even- 
ing, they  had  broken  through  sixteen  feet  of  solid 
rock,  and  liberated  the  captives.  Looking  more  like 
spectres  than  human  beings,  the  miners,  one  by  one, 
slowly  traversed  the  gallery,  and  emerged  into  open 
air,  which  they  had  so  recently  almost  despaired  of 
ever  breathing  again.  From  the  mouth  of  the  mine 
to  the  temporary  residence  allotted  them,  the  whole 
way  was  illuminated.  The  engineers,  the  pupils,  and 


256  COAL   MINES. 

the  workmen,  with  the  National  Guard  under  arms, 
were  drawn  up  in  two  lines  to  form  a  passage ; 
and  thus,  in  the  midst  of  a  religious  silence,  did 
these  poor  fellows  traverse  an  attentive  and  sympa- 
thizing crowd,  who,  as  they  passed  along,  inclined 
their  heads,  as  a  sort  of  respect  and  honor  to  their 
sufferings. 

The  most  extensive  and  important  coal  mines  in  the 
United  States  are  the  anthracite  mines  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  no  other  part  of  the  world  is  this  kind  of 
coal  found  so  abundantly  as  in  this  state.  The  value 
of  this  article  particularly  for  mechanical  purposes,  can 
hardly  be  too  highly  estimated.  For  the  manufacture 
of  iron,  it  is  peculiarly  advantageous,  as  it  contains 
little  sulphur  or  other  injurious  ingredients,  and  pro- 
duces an  intense  steady  heat.  Bar-iron,  chains,  steam- 
machinery  and  wrought  iron  of  every  description,  have 
more  tenacity  and  malleability  with  less  waste  of  metal 
when  fabricated  by  anthracite  than  by  the  aid  of  bitu- 
minous coal  or  charcoal,  with  the  important  advantage 
of  the  diminution  of  expense  of  at  least  fifty  per  cent. 
in  labor  and  fuel.  Iron  castings  are  also  stronger  \vhen 
the  melting  has  been  effected  by  the  means  of  anthra- 
cite. For  breweries,  distilleries,  and  the  raising  of 
steam,  anthracite  is  decidedly  preferable  to  bituminous 
coal  or  other  fuel,  the  heat  being  more  steady  and 
manageable,  and  the  boilers  less  corroded  by  sulphu- 
reous acid,  while  no  bad  effects  are  produced  by  smoke 
and  bitumen. 

The  anthracite  district  of  Pennsylvania  lies  mostly 
between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  river  Susquehannah. 
It  is  chiefly  occupied  by  mountains,  often  broad,  with 


COAL   MINES.  257 

table-land  summits,  generally  about  1500  feet  above 
the  ocean.  The  mines  are  not  subterraneous — as  the 
coal  lies  so  near  the  surface  that  it  is  rendered  access- 
ible by  removing  a  layer  of  soil  sometimes  only  a  few 
inches  deep.  In  the  colliery  of  the  Mauch  Chunk  on 
the  Lehigh,  the  excavation  is  carried  thirty  or  forty  feet 
deep,  forming  an  enormous  hollow  square,  inclosed  by 
lofty  mural  precipices  of  coal.  Wagons  enter  these 
excavations  by  the  avenues  that  serve  to  discharge  the 
water  from  the  mine.  The  coal  is  easily  detached  by 
picks  and  bars.  It  is  conveyed  down  the  stream  of 
the  Lehigh,  and  thence  down  the  Delaware  to  market 
in  flat-bottomed  boats. 

Of  all  the  mineral  products,  that  of  coal  is  one  of 
the  most  important  to  man.  It  is  impossible  to  look 
upon  the  immense  beds  of  this,  scattered  throughout 
every  clime,  without  feeling  that  Providence  has  exer- 
cised a  wise  and  beneficent  care  in  furnishing  it  for  the 
use  of  man.  When  we  consider  the  means  by  which 
it  has  been  prepared  ;  the  mighty  agents  that  have  been 
employed,  and  the  countless  years  that  have  been  ex- 
pended, in  the  production  ;  and  when  we  see,  moreover, 
that  iron,  not  less  important  to  man  than  coal,  is  laid 
in  exhaustless  beds  by  the  side  of  it,  and  thus  in  situ- 
ations to  be  easily  wrought — we  shall  remark  one  of 
the  many  instances  of  Omniscient  beneficence,  which 
true  philosophy  unfolds  to  the  mind. 

The  uses  of  coal  are  various ;  in  countries  where 
the  population  becomes  crowded,  and  the  natural  fuel 
supplied  by  the  forest  is  exhausted,  it  is  the  indispensa- 
ble substitute  in  the  kitchen  and  the  parlor ;  it  supplies 
the  gas  which  banishes  %e  gloom  of  night  from  the 
Q  22* 


258  COAL   MINES. 

streets  of  the  city ;  it  turns  the  wheel  of  the  factory, 
urges  the  steamer  through  the  waves  and  impels  the 
locomotive  upon  its  track.  There  is  not  a  magician 
in  the  whole  range  of  romance,  which  produces  scenes 
so  wonderful  as  mineral  coal.  The  black,  senseless 
mass,  is  dug  from  the  earth,  where  it  has  slumbered 
for  countless  ages,  and  now,  as  if  in  compensation  of 
its  long  repose,  it  liquifies  the  stubborn  metal  in  the 
forge ;  it  turns  the  ponderous  crank  of  the  steam 
engine ;  it  delves  in  the  mine,  it  toils  on  the  land  and 
the  sea  ;  it  dispenses  warmth  in  the  parlor,  heats  the 
tea  kettle,  broils  the  steak,  and  illuminates  the  city. 
In  every  quarter  of  the  world,  with  a  thousand  hands, 
it  is  toiling  for  the  benefit  of  man.  What  Arabian 
tale  presents  us  with  magic  equal  to  this  ? 

We  are  told  that  a  bushel  of  coal  is  sufficient,  if  its 
power  were  properly  applied,  to  carry  a  man  from  the 
valley  of  Chamouni,  to  the  top  of  Mont  Blanc ;  yet 
the  quantity  annually  taken  out  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  alone,  is  twenty  millions  of  tons.  It  is 
estimated  that  15,000  steam  engines  are  moved  by  it 
in  England,  some  of  them  equal  in  power  to  a  thou- 
sand horses ;  and  performing  as  much  work  in  con- 
nection with  machinery,  as  could  be  executed  by  four 
millions  of  men !  It  is  impossible  for  the  mind  to 
compass,  in  a  single  view,  the  extent  to  which  mineral 
coal  is  contributing  to  the  comfort,  luxury  and  civiliza- 
tion of  men.  Was  such  a  product  the  result  of  acci- 
dent or  chance  ? 

The  annual  product  of  the  mines  of  Pennsylvania 
is  about  two  million  of  tons ;  and  there  are  other  mines, 


COAL   MINES.  259 

as  in  Rhode  Island,  Virginia,  Maryland,  Ohio,  &c., 
from  which  considerable  quantities  are  taken. * 

There  are  considerable  coal  mines  in  France,  Bel- 

*  "  The  Apalachian  system  of  mountains  in  the  United  States, 
contains  the  Anthracite,  and  the  Alleghany  the  Bituminous, 
extending  to  the  West  over  an  immense  area. 

To  have  the  usual  coal  measures  we  should  be  elevated 
many  hundred  feet.  There  are  small  deposites  in  Massachu- 
setts and  Rhode  Island.  No  part  of  the  world  equals  Penn- 
sylvania in  coal  beds.  Here  are  found  three  kinds.  1st.  Can- 
nel,  2d.  Bituminous,  3d.  Anthracite.  It  occupies  a  part,  or  the 
whole,  of  thirty  out  of  fifty-four  counties  in  that  State. 

In  Pennsylvania,  one  bed  of  the  Anthracite  is  sixty  miles 
long,  two  wide  and  100  feet  deep. 

The  Anthracite  regions  lie  to  the  north-east  of  the  Susque- 
hannah ;  the  principal  fields  of  this  description  are  three  in  num- 
ber, with  an  aggregate  of  sixty -five  miles  in  length,  and  three 
miles  in  breadth,  embracing  624,000  square  acres. 

The  Bituminous  region  in  Pennsylvania  is  still  more  exten- 
sive. The  beds  vary  from  one  to  twelve  feet  in  thickness.  It 
abounds  in  all  the  Western  counties,  except  Erie,  embracing  a 
field  of  seventy  thousand  square  miles,  or  thirteen  millions 
four  hundred  and  forty  thousand  square  acres.  Two  million 
of  tons  are  annually  taken  from  these  beds,  equal  to  one  tenth 
of  what  is  annually  taken  from  all  Great  Britain  ;  and  nearly 
half  of  what  is  obtained  from  all  other  countries  of  E  urope,  and 
about  equal  to  that  in  France. 

In  Maryland  there  are  two  fields,  one  of  which  embraces 
400  square  miles ;  the  other  is  of  unknown  extent. 

The  coal  beds  in  Virginia  are  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  in 
thickness. 

Nearly  all  the  south-east  part  of  Ohio  is  one  vast  field  of 
coal.  Some  places  will  yield  9.000,000  tons  to  a  square  mile, 
and  there  are  not  less  than  12,000  square  miles  of  coal. 

It  is  also  found  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  Kentucky,  in 
Tennessee,  and  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Indiana,  Illinois,  &c." 


260  COAL   MINES. 

gium,  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  but  they  are  nowhere 
wrought  to  so  great  an  extent  as  in  Great  Britain. 

The  important  part  that  mineral  coal  is  playing  in 
human  affairs,  is  obvious  from  the  preceding  facts,  but 
yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  is  obtained  at  a 
prodigious  expense  of  human  life  and  comfort.  The 
accounts  of  the  miserable  condition  of  thousands  of  the 
English  miners,  is  truly  appalling.  Not  only  men, 
but  women  and  even  girls  and  boys,  are  made  to  toil  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,  in  the  most  constrained  posi- 
tions, with  poor  fare,  and  often  performing  what  might 
rather  seem  the  offices  of  brutes  than  human  beings. 
Grimed  with  coal,  pent  up  in  dim  and  dismal  caverns, 
children  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  are  har- 
nessed to  cars,  and  on  all  fours,  are  made  to  draw  them 
loaded,  through  the  passages  of  the  mines;  and 
women,  dingy  as  Vulcan  himself,  are  seen  emerging 
from  the  mouths  of  the  excavations,  loaded  with  sacks 
of  coal ! 

Nor  are  the  degradations  of  whole  communities, 
the  only  price  paid  by  society  for  mineral  coal.  The 
most  fearful  catastrophes  have  sometimes  happened, 
either  from  sudden  inundation,  or  the  caving  in  of  the 
earth.  We  have  described  a  case  of  the  former; 
the  following  instance  of  the  latter,  occurred  at 
Moxly  Heath,  England,  in  1817.  On  the  morning 
of  the  eventful  day,  about  a  dozen  men  were  at  work 
at  the  extremity  of  the  mine,  when  they  suddenly 
heard  a  heavy  crushing  sound  toward  the  opening. 
At  the  same  moment,  their  lights  were  extinguished 
by  a  violent  concussion  of  the  air.  The  accident  was 
soon  made  known  to  the  people  without,  and  the  alarm 


COAL   MINES.  261 

was  communicated  like  wildfire  throughout  the  adja- 
cent districts.  Thousands  were  soon  seen  rushing  to 
the  fatal  spot, — fathers,  mothers,  wives  and  children, 
presenting  by  their  cries  an  indescribable  scene  of 
panic  and  distress. 

Immediate  measures  were  taken  to  deliver  the  suf- 
ferers, if  possible,  from  their  tomb.  Working  gangs 
were  found  sufficiently  numerous  to  relieve  each  other 
by  short  relays.  Day  and  night  the  work  proceeded, 
with  unabated  activity.  The  accident  occurred  on 
Monday,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  following  Sunday 
the  tapping  of  hammers  was  heard  from  within.  The 
state  of  feeling  at  this  moment  was  indescribable. 
The  men  wrought  with  a  feeling  almost  amounting  to 
frenzy.  The  state  of  excitement  among  the  assembled 
crowd  at  the  mouth  of  the  excavation  cannot  be 
imagined. 

Early  on  Monday  morning,  an  opening  was  made 
into  the  cavern,  and  the  joyous  intelligence  was  soon 
communicated  that  nine  of  the  men  and  one  boy  were 
still  alive.  The  sensations  of  the  assembled  relations 
of  these  unhappy  persons  were  most  intense,  and  one 
woman  died  with  excess  of  joy  upon  hearing  that  her 
husband  was  living. 

The  sufferers  in  the  mine  were  in  a  state  of  extreme 
exhaustion,  but  medical  men  were  in  attendance,  and 
by  judicious  treatment,  they  all  recovered.  The 
account  which  they  gave  after  their  restoration,  was 
in  the  highest  degree  interesting.  The  boy  who  was 
among  the  party  was  about  twelve  years  old.  He  sat 
upon  his  father's  knees  and  slept  the  greater  part  of 
the  time,  occasionally  waking  and  crying  for  his 


262  IRON    MINES. 

mother.  One  of  the  men  who  was  injured  by  the 
falling  mass  of  stones,  expired  in  great  agony,  for 
amid  the  darkness,  no  help  could  be  rendered  to  him. 


IRON    MINES. 

IRON  is  the  most  useful  of  all  the  metals,  and  has 
contributed  more  to  the  civilization  of  man,  than  all 
others,  put  together.  It  furnishes  the  tools  by  which 
we  cut  wood,  stone  and  other  substances,  and  therefore 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  nearly  all  the  arts  of  life. 
The  shoemaker,  carpenter,  mason,  wheelwright,  tailor, 
hunter,  fisherman,  farmer — all  are  dependents  upon 
iron.  Without  this  useful  metal,  society  must  have 
remained  either  in  a  savage  or  barbarous  state. 

It  is  fortunate  for  mankind  that  this  necessary  min- 
eral is  scattered  throughout  every  clime,  and  is  found 
in  almost  every  country.  While  gold  and  silver  are 
only  met  with  in  particular  regions  and  in  small 
quantities,  iron  abounds  and  is  obtained  as  well  in 
rocky  ores,  as  mixed  with  earth,  it  being  produced  by 
growth,  in  the  latter  state. 

Iron  has,  in  a  few  cases,  been  found  nearly  pure, 
in  large  masses,  lying  on  the  top  of  the  ground.  In 
1750,  a  Cossack  blacksmith  secured  a  large  lump  of 
this  kind,  lying  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  near  the  river 
Yenisei.  It  weighed  1512  pounds,  and  was  regarded 
by  the  Tartars  with  superstition,  there  being  a  tradi- 
tion that  it  had  fallen  from  heaven.  A  mass  weighing 
29,120  pounds,  was  found  in  South  America,  800 
miles  north-east  of  Buenos  Ayres.  These  detached 


IRON    MINES.  263 

masses  of  iron,  are  deemed  meteoric,  and  are  sup- 
posed to  be  parts  of  aerolites,  that  have  fallen  upon 
the  earth.  The  iron  for  use  is  almost  wholly  dug 
in  mines,  in  the  form  of  iron-stone,  or  in  the  state 
of  bog  ore. 

After  this  ore  is  obtained,  it  has  to  undergo  a  pro- 
cess of  smelting,  in  order  to  separate  the  metal  from 
the  stony  or  earthy  portion.  The  first  step  in  this 
operation  is  to  reduce  it  to  a  liquid  state  by  means  of 
heat.  For  this  purpose,  a  blast-furnace  is  constructed, 
which  is  something  in  the  shape  of  a  chimney,  built  of 
masonry,  and  carefully  lined  with  fire-brick.  The  ore 
having  previously  been  roasted  or  calcined  in  a  kiln,  in 
order  to  drive  off  the  water,  sulphur  and  aisenic,  with 
which  it  is  more  or  less  combined  in  its  natural  state,  is 
put  into  this  furnace  mixed  up  with  coal  and  limestone, 
which  latter  substance  helps  its  fusion.  The  heat 
which  would  be  produced  merely  by  setting  fire  to  the 
fuel,  would  be  altogether  insufficient  to  melt  the  ore  if 
it  were  not  increased  by  forcing  in  a  current  of  air. 
For  this  purpose  it  is  necessary  to  use  a  strong  me- 
chanical force,  and  of  late  years  the  agency  of  steam 
has  been  most  commonly  employed.  Water-wheels, 
where  they  can  be  had,  are  of  course,  cheaper  agents, 
but  there  are  not  many  places  where  a  sufficiently 
copious  and  regular  supply  of  water,  at  all  seasons, 
can  be  commanded.  The  air,  forced  by  the  playing 
of  a  number  of  large  bellows,  into  the  furnace,  raises 
the  heat  to  a  degree  of  intensity  sufficient  for  the 
smelting  of  the  ore.  In  the  more  improved  of  these 
machines,  the  ore  is  previously  heated  in  cast  iron 
vessels  to  about  300°  of  Fahrenheit,  by  which  the 


264 


IRON    MINES. 


dampness  always  existing  in  atmospheric  air  is  ex- 
pelled, and  the  quality  of  the  iron  improved. 

When  the  whole  of  the  ore  is  reduced  to  a  fluid 
state,  it  is  drawn  off  by  a  tap  at  the  bottom  of  the  fur- 
nace into  channels  formed  in  the  sand  of  the  smelting- 
house  floor.  The  names  of  sow-metal  and  pig-metal, 
which  were  originally  given  by  the  workmen,  signify, 
in  one  case,  the  blocks  of  iron  which  are  formed  in  the 
large  main  channels,  and  in  the  other  case,  the  smaller 
blocks  which  are  formed  in  smaller  side-channels  com- 
municating with  the  larger  ones.  These  names  were 
adopted  from  the  fancied  resemblance  of  the  cast  metal 
to  a  sow  and  her  litter  of  pigs.  This  is  iron  in  its 
crudest  state.  The  weight  of  materials  lost  in  its 
production  is  somewhat  greater  than  that  of  the  fuel 
used.  Large  heaps  of  cinder  are  gradually  accumu- 
lated in  the  neighborhood  of  iron-works,  and  give  a 
dreary  aspect  to  the  country. 

Forge  or  bar-iron  is  pig-iron  freed  from  carbon 
and  oxygen.  The  first  operation  for  producing  this 
change  is  called  refining,  and  is  performed  in  small, 
low  furnaces,  having  the  hearth  of  fire-bricks  and  the 
sides  of  cast  iron,  made  hollow  to  allow  the  streams 
of  water  to  pass  constantly  through,  which  prevents 
their  being  quickly  burnt  away.  The  iron  is  kept  in 
a  state  of  fusion  in  the  refinery,  for  some  time,  exposed 
to  an  intense  heat  produced  by  a  strong  blast.  It  is 
then  drawn  ofT  into  moulds,  where  by  sudden  cooling 
it  becomes  very  brittle.  The  next  process  for  making 
bars  is  called  puddling,  which  is  performed  in  a  re- 
verberatory  furnace.  The  iron  is  here  again  melted 
and  worked  over  till  it  forms  into  lumps,  which  are 


IRON    MINES.  265 

shaped  by  hammering  so  as  to  pass  through  the  rolling- 
mills,  by  which  they  are  wrought  into  bars. 

The  iron  trade  of  Great  Britain  is  immense.  It  is 
stated  that  700,000  tons  are  annually  taken  from  the 
mines,  which,  in  its  rudest  state,  is  worth  eighteen 
millions  of  dollars.  Beside  this,  some  is  imported  from 
Sweden,  and  nearly  the  whole  is  manufactured  into  a 
thousand  forms,  from  needles  up  to  steam-engines  and 
steam-ships.  It  is  not  possible  to  form  any  adequate 
conception  of  the  variety  and  extent  of  these  manufac- 
tures. Staffordshire  is  the  centre  of  these  works,  and 
here,  day  and  night,  may  be  seen  the  blast  furnaces, 
lifting  their  tall  tubes  toward  the  sky,  and  spouting 
forth  smoke  and  flames  for  months  and  years,  without 
a  moment's  cessation.  It  has  been  stated  that  some 
furnaces  have  been  in  continual  blast  for  ten  and  even 
twenty  years.  The  art  of  working  iron  is  now  carried 
to  such  perfection  that  it  is  used  in  England  in  a  mul- 
titude of  new  forms,  thus  greatly  extending  the  con- 
sumption of  the  article. 

The  iron  mines  of  Sweden,  Norway,  Russia, 
France,  and  the  United  States,  are  extensive.  They 
exist  in  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Ohio, 
Kentucky  and  Pennsylvania ;  vast  quantities  are 
obtained  in  those  of  the  latter  state.  Pittsburgh  is 
largely  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  iron,  and  the 
smoking  flues  of  the  city  give  it  an  aspect  greatly  re- 
sembling the  manufacturing  towns  of  Great  Britain. 
Beside  the  iron  produced  in  our  own  country,  large 
quantities  are  imported  from  Sweden  and  Russia.  A 
great  amount  of  manufactured  iron  is  imported  from 
Great  Britain. 

xvin.— 23 


266  COPPER   MINES. 


COPPER    MINES. 

COPPER,  next  to  iron,  is  the  most  useful  metal  in  the 
arts,  and  it  appears  to  have  been  in  use,  even  anterior 
to  iron.  It  is  found  both  in  a  pure  state  and  in  the 
condition  of  ore.  There  are  several  mines  in  England, 
but  the  most  famous  are  those  of  Cornwall,  one  of 
which,  explored  by  Professor  Silliman,  has  been  already 
described.  The  total  product  of  the  mines  "of  Great 
Britain,  is  about  fourteen  thousand  tons,  annually. 

At  Fahlun,  in  Sweden,  is  the  most  celebrated  copper 
mine  in  the  world,  which  has  been  worked  for  nearly 
a  thousand  years.  The  ore  is  found,  not  in  veins  but 
in  masses,  and  the  beds  are  not  above  a  mile  in  circum- 
ference. The  mine  has  many  shafts  and  galleries, 
and  at  the  deepest  part  is  1,020  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  The  mine  is  private  property,  and  con- 
sists of  1200  shares.  Four  times  a  week  the  ore  is 
divided:  eleven  equal  heaps  are  formed,  eight  are 
distributed  among  the  proprietors,  and  the  three  re- 
maining heaps  are  sold  at  auction ;  one  is  appropri- 
ated to  the  repairs  of  the  works;  the  second  to  pay  the 
workmen,  and  the  third  to  pay  the  expenses  of  making 
new  excavations. 

The  ore  is  first  roasted  in  the  open  air  to  deprive  it 
of  the  sulphur ;  this  operation  is  repeated  five  times, 
and  it  is  then  smelted.  The  copper  is  then  forwarded 
from  Fahlun  to  Afsta,  in  blocks,  in  a  very  impure 
state.  Here  it  is  put  into  furnaces  in  the  ground,  the 
ingots  of  copper  being  mixed  up  with  charcoal.  The 
fire  is  kept  at  an  intense  heat  by  bellows  worked  by 


COPPER    MINES.  267 

water-power  till  the  ingots  are  entirely  melted.  After 
this  the  bellows  continue  to  play  for  a  long  time,  fresh 
charcoal  being  added  as  often  as  is  requisite.  The 
fluid  metal  is  occasionally  skimmed  of  whatever  dross 
swims  on  the  top.  After  being  kept  a  sufficient  time 
in  a  state  of  fusion,  the  bellows  cease  playing,  and  a 
quantity  of  water  is  thrown  on  the  melted  copper, 
which  not  being  able  to  evaporate  instantaneously,  rolls 
backward  and  forward  on  the  surface  in  small  drops. 
This  water  chills  the  top  of  the  metal  and  forms  a  crust, 
which  is  taken  off  with  iron  instruments,  forming  a 
sheet  of  copper.  Water  is  again  thrown  on,  and  a 
second  crust  is  formed  and  taken  off;  this  is  repeated 
till  the  furnace  is  empty,  frequently  producing  forty 
crusts  or  round  sheets  of  copper,  the  last  of  which  are 
always  the  purest  and  best. 

The  metal  has  to  undergo  still  another  fusion.  A 
great  number  of  the  sheets  are  put  into  furnaces,  where, 
after  melting,  the  copper  is  dipped  out  with  large  iron 
spoons  suspended  on  levers  by  chains,  and  poured  into 
moulds.  The  masses  before  they  are  entirely  cold 
are  placed  on  anvils  and  beaten  flat  by  trip-hammers. 
They  are  afterwards  cut  into  narrow  plates  and  passed 
between  rollers  to  make  them  even  and  of  equal 
thickness. 

Brass  is  manufactured  at  Afsta  by  the  following 
process.  They  have  three  subterranean  furnaces, 
each  furnished  with  a  lid.  Into  these  furnaces  they 
let  down,  with  large  hooks,  very  deep  crucibles  filled 
with  copper  and  lapis  calaminaris.  After  remaining  for 
some  time  they  are  drawn  up,  and  the  melted  contents 
poured  into  very  flat  moulds  where  the  metal  is  formed 


268  COPPER   MINES. 

into  sheets.  Some  of  these  are  cut  into  long  strips 
which  are  put  to  heat  again  in  a  large  oven,  after 
which  they  are  drawn  through  gauges  till  they  are 
reduced  to  wire. 

The  water  which  is  pumped  out  of  the  mines  ot 
Fahlun  is  strongly  impregnated  with  blue  vitriol,  or 
sulphate  of  copper.  Large  quantities  of  copper  are 
obtained  by  placing  pieces  of  iron  in  troughs  filled 
with  this  water.  The  process  is  extremely  simple 
and  common  in  chemical  experiments,  but  one  which 
has  led  ignorant  persons  to  believe  that  the  iron  is 
changed  into  copper.  The  water  having  a  stronger 
affinity  with  iron  than  with  copper,  dissolves  the  par- 
ticles of  the  former  and  precipitates  a  proportionate 
number  of  those  of  the  latter  before  held  in  solution, 
which  assume  the  places  of  the  particles  of  iron  previ- 
ously dissolved ;  and  as  this  operation  is  constant  and 
gradual,  the  pieces  of  iron  are  entirely  encrusted  with 
copper,  and  appear  converted  into  that  metal. 

The  mines  of  Fahlun,  are  said  to  have  formerly 
produced  eight  million  pounds  of  pure  metal,  annu- 
ally, but  the  amount  is  now  considerably  reduced. 
There  are  other  prolific  mines  in  Sweden,  and  the 
metal  is  also  produced  in  Saxony,  Russia,  Persia, 
Japan,  China,  Chili  and  Peru.  The  copper  mines  of 
Japan  are  among  the  richest  in  the  world.  Large 
masses  of  copper  have  been  found  around  the  shores 
of  Lake  Superior ;  but  no  mines  are  wrought  in  the 
United  States.  A  great  quantity  is  imported  into  this 
country  in  the  form  of  bars  and  pigs,  from  Peru  and 
Chili,  and  in  sheets  from  England. 


SILVER    MINES*  269 


SILVER  MINES. 

SILVER  is  generally  found  in  mines  which  traverse 
the  primary  and  older  secondary  rocks.  In  some 
cases,  large  masses  of  the  pure  metal  have  been 
found ;  but  in  general,  it  is  in  the  state  of  ore,  in  which 
the  silver  bears  a  small  proportion  to  the  stony  sub- 
stance with  which  it  is  mixed. 

This  metal  is  found  in  Asia,  Europe,  and  South 
America.  The  most  celebrated  mines  are  those  of 
Mexico,  Peru,  Bolivia,  and  Chili.  There  are  also 
valuable  mines  at  Kongsberg  in  Norway,  Friburg  in 
Saxony,  in  Sweden,  Russia,  Spain,  and  Hungary. 
Those  of  Chemnitz  and  Cremnitz,  in  the  latter  coun- 
try have  been  worked  for  a  thousand  years.  The  sil- 
ver mines  of  Asia  are  in  Armenia  and  China.  This 
metal  is  not  found  in  Africa. 

Gold  and  silver  have  been  in  request  from  the  ear- 
liest ages,  and  they  are  still  sought  for  with  an  avidity 
which  triumphs  over  every  obstacle.  The  description 
of  one  of  the  mines,  where  the  latter  metal  has  been 
sought  for  many  years,  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
patient  labor  and  indomitable  enterprise  which  have 
been  bestowed  in  procuring  it.  The  traveller  Reynard 
gives  us  the  following  account  of  one  of  the  mines  in 
Sweden.  "  Salberg  is  a  little  village  two  days'  jour- 
ney from  Stockholm,  and  one  of  the  most  delightfully 
situated  places  in  the  country.  The  silver  mine  has 
three  large  mouths,  but  the  bottom  is  too  deep  to  be 
seen.  A  tub  attached  to  a  cable  is  used  for  the  pur- 
pose of  descending  this  abyss,  and  it  is  lowered  and 
23* 


270  SILVER   MINES. 

hoisted  by  a  very  curious  machine  driven  by  water. 
The  extent  of  the  danger  may  easily  be  conceived, 
when  a  person  must  descend  in  this  manner  with 
only  one  foot  in  the  machine,  and  his  life  depending 
on  the  strength  of  a  rope.  A  satellite,  black  as  a  devil, 
holding  in  his  hand  a  torch  of  pitch  and  rosin,  de- 
scended with  us,  and  screamed  out  an  air  so  melan- 
choly, that  it  seemed  to  have  been  made  on  purpose 
for  the  infernal  descent.  About  half  way  down  we 
felt  great  cold,  which  joined  to  the  water  that  fell  upon 
us  from  all  quarters  in  torrents,  roused  us  from  the 
lethargy  into  which  we  had  fallen  on  entering  these 
subterranean  regions.  We  at  length  reached  the  bot- 
tom of  the  gulf  after  half  an  hour's  journey.  Here  our 
fears  and  gloomy  feelings  vanished  ;  we  no  more  be- 
held anything  frightful ;  on  the  contrary,  everything 
was  brilliant. 

"  We  then  descended  still  further  below  ground  for 
the  purpose  of  visiting  a  saloon,  the  roof  of  which  is 
supported  by  several  columns  of  silver,  with  which  metal 
everything  is  covered.  Four  spacious  galleries  dis- 
close themselves,  and  the  reflection  of  the  lights  which 
shone  on  all  sides,  and  dazzled  our  eyes  by  reflection 
from  the  vaults  of  silver  and  a  clear  rivulet  which  ran 
at  their  foot,  did  not  tend  so  much  to  give  light  to  the 
workmen  as  to  render  this  abode  more  magnificent 
than  the  palace  of  Plato.  Men  of  all  countries  are  to 
Le  seen  in  these  galleries ;  some  draw  carriages ; 
others  roll  stones ;  and  others  are  tearing  the  rocks 
asunder.  There  is  a  town  below  a  town,  containing 
houses,  taverns,  stables,  horses,  &c. ;  and  what  is  very 
remarkable,  there  is  a  mill  in  the  bottom  of  this  gulf 
which  raises  the  water  out  of  the  mine. 


SILVER    MINES.  271 

"  The  first  stones  taken  out  of  the  mine,  are  dried  in 
a  furnace  which  burns  very  slowly,  and  which  separ- 
ates the  antimony,  arsenic  and  sulphur  from  the  stone, 
the  lead,  and  the  silver  which  remain  together.  This 
operation  is  followed  by  another  in  which  the  dried 
stones  are  thrown  into  triangles,  and  piled  on  each 
other  to  be  pulverized  by  large  hammers,  set  in  mo- 
tion by  water.  The  pounded  ore  is  kept  in  a  stream  of 
water,  which  runs  constantly  over  a  large  cloth  placed 
in  a  sloping  position ;  by  this  means  all  the  thick  and 
earthy  matter  is  carried  off,  while  the  lead  and  silver 
remain  at  the  bottom.  It  is  afterwards  removed  and 
thrown  again  into  a  furnace  which  separates  the  silver 
from  the  lead ;  this  last  is  converted  into  scum." 

The  richest  and  most  famous  mine  in  the  world  is 
the  silver  mine  of  Potosi  in  Peru.  The  place  is 
thus  strikingly  described  by  the  traveller  Temple. 
"  Suddenly  appeared  before  me  in  the  distance,  a  high 
mountain  of  a  reddish  brown  color,  in  the  shape  of  a 
perfect  cone,  and  altogether  distinct  in  its  appearance, 
from  anything  of  the  kind  which  I  had  ever  seen. 
There  was  no  mistaking  it ; — it  was  that  mountain 
which  was  made  known  to  the  world  by  the  merest 
accident ; — by  an  Indian  who  in  pursuit  of  a  llama  up 
a  steep,  to  save  himself  from  falling,  caught  hold  of  a 
shrub,  which  being  torn  from  the  soil,  exposed  a 
mass  of  solid  silver  at  the  roots.  It  was  that  moun- 
tain, incapable  of  producing  even  a  blade  of  grass, 
which  yet  had  attractions  sufficient  to  cause  a  city  to 
be  built  at  its  base,  at  one  time  containing  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants ; — it  was  that  mountain  whose 
hidden  treasures  have  withstood  the  laborious  plunder 


272  SILVER   MINES. 

of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  still  remain  unex- 
hausted. 

"  The  height  of  the  Cerro  del  Potosi  has  been  ascer- 
tained by  Dr.  Redhead,  to  be  15,981  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  Pacific  Ocean;  and  the  town  of  Potosi  is 
situated  at  an  elevation  of  13,265  feet  above  the  same 
level,  being  probably  the  highest  inhabited  place  upon 
the  globe.  On  the  side  next  to  the  town,  and  at 
the  foot  of  the  great  mountain,  rising,  as  it  were, 
against  it,  is  a  smaller,  called  by  the  Indians  Huagua 
Potocsi,  (son  of  Potosi,  or  Potosi  the  younger.)  It 
facilitates  the  ascent  to,  but  does  not  partake  of  the 
riches  of  the  former,  almost  every  stone  of  which  is  in 
some  degree  metalliferous.  There  are  however  in  the 
small  mountain,  some  mines  from  which  considerable 
quantities  of  silver  have  been  extracted.  In  the  large 
one  there  are  not  less  than  five  thousand  bocas  minas, 
— mouths  of  mines, — but  it  does  not  follow  that  there 
are  five  thousand  distinct  mines,  for  several  have 
two  and  some  three  different  mouths  or  entrances. 
This  may  convey  a  tolerably  fair  idea  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  cerro  is  perforated.  But  no  idea  can  be 
formed  of  the  nature  and  state  of  the  mines  them- 
selves, which  have  been  worked  from  their  discovery 
to  the  present  day,  without  the  slightest  regard  to 
method,  or  even  common  convenience.  I  entered 
several  in  which  I  was  obliged  to  crawl  for  many 
yards  on  my  hands  and  feet.  An  estimate  may 
thence  be  formed  of  the  disadvantage  at  which  the 
laborers  work,  and  of  the  great  loss  of  time  that  must 
ensue  in  conveying  the  ores  out  of  the  mines  in  sheep- 
skin aprons,  as  practised  by  the  Indians. 


SILVER   MINES.  273 

"  As  many  Indians  as  can  work  in  the  space  within 
the  mine  are  employed  with  implements  and  gunpow- 
der, in  detaching  the  ore  from  the  veins.  The  pieces 
so  detached  are  carried  out  to  the  mouth  of  the  mine 
where  they  are  broken  to  small  and  nearly  equal 
sizes,  resembling  the  stones  for  repairing  roads  upon 
Macadam's  principle.  In  this  state,  they  are  put  into 
sacks  and  conveyed  to  the  ingenio  (the  laboratory  or 
amalgamation  works,)  upon  asses  and  llamas,  the  for- 
mer carrying  125  pounds  each,  and  the  latter  half  that 
quantity.  If  the  ore  is  quite  dry,  it  is  discharged  into 
a  store-house  ;  if  wet  or  damp,  it  is  spread  in  a  place 
called  pampeo,  where  it  is  exposed  to  the  sun  till  dry. 
It  is  next  pounded  to  powder  by  a  heavy  and  awkward 
stamping-mill,  moved  by  a  water-wheel,  after  which  it 
is  passed  through  wire  sieves.  The  men  attending 
this  last  operation  are  obliged  to  stuff  their  nostrils  and 
ears  with  cotton,  and  wear  a  sort  of  mask  to  protect 
them  from  the  noxious  dust,  which  is  so  injurious  to 
health,  that  the  place  where  the  sifting  is  carried  on 
is  jocularly  called  matagente — the  '  kill-people,'  and 
a  serious  joke  it  has  proved  to  the  poor  Indians  for  the 
last  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

"  The  pulverized  ore  is  then  carried  to  the  buitron,  a 
large  horizontal  pavement  where  water  and  salt  are 
thrown  upon  it,  to  which  when  the  mixture  is  fully 
performed,  quicksilver  is  added,  according  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  benefidador  or  *  amalgamator,'  who,  pre- 
vious to  these  operations,  assays  the  ore  and  ascer- 
tains its  richness,  which  enables  him  to  judge  with 
precision  the  quantity  required,  and  which  is  grad- 
uated according  to  the  richness  of  the  ore.  A 
R 


274  SILVER    MINES. 

great  part  of  this  quicksilver  is  subsequently  recovered, 
but  the  ascertained  certain  loss  is  a  pound  of  quick- 
silver for  every  pound  of  silver.  The  ore  then  goes 
through  a  further  process,  with  the  addition  of  lime, 
tin,  vitriol,  &c.,  after  which  it  is  worked,  and  the 
quicksilver  is  driven  off  by  the  heat  of  a  furnace, 
leaving  a  solid  mass  of  pure  silver." 

According  to  the  account  of  Humboldt,  there  were 
5000  mining  establishments  in  Mexico  at  the  time  of 
his  visit.  The  mines  wrought  by  these  are  from  3  to 
4000.  One  of  them  in  the  district  of  Guanaxuato,  is 
from  130  to  148  feet  wide,  and  has  been  traced  and 
worked  to  an  extent  of  eight  miles.  The  average 
richness  of  the  ore  in  Mexico,  is  about  four  ounces  of 
silver  to  102  pounds  of  refuse. 

The  produce  of  the  Mexican  mines  was  estimated 
40  years  ago,  #t  about  24,000,000  of  dollars,  annually, 
nineteen  twentieths  of  which  was  silver.  The  silver 
mines  of  Chili,  Peru,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  New  Gren- 
ada, were  supposed  by  Humboldt,  at  the  same  period, 
to  yield  about  10,000,000  dollars  annually.  The  an- 
nual produce  of  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  all  Amer- 
ica, he  estimated  at  9,243,750  sterling,  and  that  of 
the  mines  of  Europe  and  Asia,  at  1,000,000  sterling. 
Since  that  time,  the  product  has  decreased,  and  M'Cul- 
loch  reckons  the  present  annual  supply  of  all  the 
gold  and  silver  mines  of  Europe  and  America,  at  be- 
tween 30  and  35  millions  of  dollars.  This  diminution 
is  in  silver  only,  for  the  quantity  of  gold  has  increased 
in  the  last  few  years. 

The  use  of  silver  is  not  confined  to  coin,  but  it 
is  largely  employed  in  the  arts.  In  Great  Britain, 


SILVER    MINES.  275 

the  annual  consumption  of  silver  amounts  to  about 
4,000,000  of  dollars;  500,000  ounces  are  annu- 
ally used  for  watch  cases,  and  900,000  ounces  by 
coach-makers,  harness-makers,  and  iron  mongers. 
The  value  of  the  silver  at  all  times  in  the  hands  of 
the  manufacturers  there,  is  estimated  at  16,000,000  of 
dollars.  The  annual  consumption  of  gold  and  silver 
in  Europe  and  America,  for  ornamental  purposes,  is 
valued  at  30,000,000  of  dollars.  The  whole  coin  of 
Europe  and  America,  in  gold  and  silver,  is  reckoned 
at  1400,000,000  of  dollars,  and  the  value  of  ornaments 
and  utensils  of  the  same  metals,  at  1900,000,000  of 
dollars. 

Notwithstanding  the  almost  inconceivable  value  at- 
tached to  these  masses  of  silver  and  gold,  it  is  probable 
that  they  are  really  of  no  benefit  to  the  world.  They 
are  obtained  at  the  expense  of  immense  toil,  severe 
privation,  and  prodigious  waste  of  life.  The  same 
labor  bestowed  upon  the  pursuit  of  humbler  minerals, 
or  even  in  agriculture,  would  doubtless  have  yielded 
more  solid  advantages  to  mankind. 

As  to  the  effect  of  mining  upon  those  engaged  in 
it,  we  have  the  following  testimony  in  Smith's  Peru. 
"  The  miner,"  says  he,  "  is  generally  a  reckless  gam- 
bler, who  spends  money  as  fast  as  it  comes  to  him, 
not  in  improving  his  mines,  but  indulging  his  vices ; 
and  in  this  manner,  the  interest  of  the  first  habilitadors 
may  be  successively  postponed  to  the  claims  of  the 
most  recent,  who  frequently  is  disappointed  in  his 
turn ;  while  the  difficulties  of  the  miner  are  not 
removed,  but  prolonged,  and  he  is  involved  in  ever- 
lasting disputes  and  litigation," 


276  GOLD   MINES. 

GOLD   MINES. 

GOLD  is  sometimes  found  like  silver,  copper,  and 
iron,  in  rocky  beds,  and  in  the  state  of  ore  ;  but  it  is 
generally  obtained  in  alluvial  districts,  in  the  shape  of 
small  scales,  grains,  and  lumps,  rounded  by  the  attri- 
tion of  water.  This  is  called  stream  gold,  and  seems 
to  have  been  produced  from  the  disintegration  of  rocks. 
It  is  found  in  the  beds  of  many  rivers,  but  the  chief 
localities  where  it  is  obtained  in  any  considerable 
quantities,  are  Mexico,  Peru,  Chili,  Buenos  Ayres, 
Brazil,  Russia,  Hungary,  Sweden,  Japan,  Borneo, 
Africa  and  the  United  States. 

Lumps  of  gold  nearly  pure  and  of  very  large  size, 
have  been  found  in  different  parts  of  the  world  ;  masses 
weighing  20  pounds,  have  been  met  with  in  the  Ural 
mountains ;  one  weighing  25  pounds,  was  found  in 
Colombia,  and  one  weighing  45  pounds  was  obtained 
in  La  Paz.  The  value  of  the  latter  was  over  9000 
dollars.  In  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  it  is  probable 
that  such  masses  were  common ;  and  from  the  im- 
mense amount  of  the  precious  metals  in  use  in  Peru 
and  Mexico,  at  the  time  of  their  discovery,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  both  silver  and  gold  were  obtained  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth  in  large  quantities. 

The  gold  mines  of  Mexico  produce  about  one  mil- 
lion of  dollars  a  year  ;  those  of  South  America  yield 
4  millions ;  those  of  the  United  States,  in  Virgina,  N. 
Carolina,  S.  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  1  million ;  those 
of  Europe,  4  millions ;  those  of  Asia,  7  millions.  It 
must  be  admitted,  however,  that  these  calculations  are 
very  uncertain.  Of  the  gold  obtained  from  Africa  we 


PLAT1NA    MINES.  277 

have  no  estimate.  The  quantity  of  gold  coined  at 
the  London  mint  in  1829,  amounted  to  200  millions  of 
dollars. 

The  uses  of  gold  beside  that  employed  for,  coin,  are 
numerous.  Its  flexibility  and  softness  have  led  to  its 
extensive  adoption  in  the  form  of  gilding,  and  a  large 
amount  is  consumed  in  the  manufacture  of  gold  leaf. 
Two  ounces  of  gold  are  beaten  into  2400  leaves,  these 
being  each  but  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousandth 
part  of  an  inch  thick.  It  may  however  be  made  much 
thinner.  It  is  said  that  gold  to  the  value  of  300,000  dol- 
lars is  annually  converted  into  leaf  in  Great  Britain ! 

The  process  of  seeking  for  gold  is  seldom  by  min- 
ing into  rocks ;  but  generally  by  washing  or  picking 
among  the  sand.  Notwithstanding  the  immense  amount 
actually  obtained,  it  may  still  be  doubted  whether  the 
gold  mines  now  wrought,  actually  pay  the  expense  of 
the  working ;  if  they  do,  it  is  still  certain  that  the  same 
industry  and  enterprise  devoted  to  other  objects,  would 
be  much  more  productive  to  those  employed,  as  well 
as  more  useful  to  mankind. 


PLATINA  MINES. 

THIS  metal,  which  is  even  heavier  and  more  costly 
than  gold,  is  found  in  small  quantities  in  South  Amer- 
ca,  Spain,  and  the  Ural  mountains.  It  is  chiefly  ob- 
tained from  the  latter  place,  and  Russia,  to  which 
country  the  mines  there  belong,  has  recently  issued 
small  coins  of  this  metal,  which  is  the  only  instance 
of  its  being  used  for  this  purpose.  In  1830,  the  Rus- 
sia mines  yielded  4200  pounds,  in  weight. 
xviii.— 24 


278  DIAMOND   MINES. 

Platina  is  of  a  silvery  whiteness,  but  not  brilliant ; 
it  is  very  ductile  and  has  been  reduced  to  wire  of  the 
thirty  thousandth  part  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  It  is 
found  in  grains,  and  one  lump  has  been  discovered 
weighing  about  twenty  pounds,  which  is  deposited  in 
the  museum  at  St.  Petersburg.  The  chief  uses  of 
platina,  are  in  the  arts,  it  being  fitted  to  certain  pur- 
poses by  its  peculiar  chemical  qualities. 


DIAMOND    MINES. 

IT  is  a  familiar  fact  that  the  diamond  is  the  most 
brilliant,  beautiful  and  precious  of  all  stones.  On 
account  of  its  extreme  hardness,  the  art  of  cutting  and 
polishing  it  was  for  a  long  time  unknown  in  Europe. 
But  in  1456,  a  young  man  of  the  name  of  Louis  Ber- 
gher,  of  Bruges,  is  said  to  have  constructed  a  polishing 
wheel  for  the  purpose,  which  was  fed  with  diamond 
powder  instead  of  corundium,  which  the  Chinese  and 
Hindoos  had  long  been  accustomed  to  employ.  Ber- 
gher  was  led  to  this  discovery  by  observing  the  action 
produced  by  rubbing  two  rough  diamonds  together. 

For  estimating  the  value  of  fine  diamonds,  there  is 
no  fixed  standard.  Rough  diamonds,  selected  as  fine, 
and  well-formed  for  cutting,  may  be  estimated  as  fol- 
lows. Square  the  weight  of  the  stone  in  carats,  mul- 
tiply the  product  by  two,  and  the  result  will  give  the 
value  in  pounds  sterling.  Brilliants,  if  fine,  may  be 
estimated  by  squaring  the  weight  and  multiplying  the 
product  by  eight,  which  will  give  the  value  in  pounds. 


DIAMOND    MINES.  279 

A  very  large  amount  of  property  in  Europe,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  parts  of  the  world,  is  invested  in 
diamonds ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  price 
of  these  gems  has  not  only  been  rising  gradually  for 
several  years,  but  is  likely  to  continue  on  the  advance. 
This  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  diamond  mines  of  the 
East  are  unproductive,  and  even  those  of  Brazil  have 
begun  to  show  symptoms  of  exhaustion. 

Diamonds  are  not  used  exclusively  as  articles  of 
ornament  or  luxury,  but  are  employed  with  great 
advantage  in  the  arts.  The  inferior  kinds  are  sold  to 
break  into  powder,  and  may  be  said  to  have  a  more 
extensive  sale  than  brilliants  with  all  their  captivating 
beauty.  In  many  operations  of  art  they  are  indispen- 
sable. The  fine  cameo  and  intaglio  owe  their  perfec- 
tion to  the  diamond,  with  which  alone  they  can  be 
engraved.  The  beauty  of  the  onyx  would  yet  remain 
dormant  had  not  the  unrivalled  power  of  the  diamond 
been  called  forth  to  the  assistance  of  the  artist.  The 
carnelian  and  the  agate  cannot  be  engraved  by  any 
other  substance. 

Diamond  mines  exist  in  Hindostan,  the  island  of 
Borneo,  and  Brazil.  The  most  celebrated  of  the  for- 
mer country  is  that  of  Golconda,  now  called  Hyderabad, 
which,  however,  is  no  longer  very  productive.  Ta- 
vernier,  who  visited  this  mine,  gives  the  following 
description  of  it.  "  All  round  the  place  where  the 
diamonds  are  found,  the  earth  is  sandy  and  full  of 
rocks  and  coppice  woods,  nearly  similar  to  the  envi- 
rons of  Fontainbleau.  In  these  rocks  are  many  veins 
from  half  an  inch  to  an  inch  broad.  The  miners  have 
little  iron  rods,  bent  at  the  end,  which  they  thrust  into 
these  veins  to  draw  out  the  sand  and  earth  ;  this  they 


280  DIAMOND    MINES. 

put  into  vessels,  and  it  is  among  this  earth  that  the 
diamonds  are  found.  As  the  veins  are  not  always 
regular,  but  run  up  and  down,  they  are  obliged  to 
break  the  rocks  in  order  to  follow  them.  After  the 
earth  is  collected,  they  wash  it  two  or  three  times,  and 
the  diamonds  are  discovered.  The  traffic  here  is  car- 
ried on  with  liberality  and  good  faith.  On  all  the 
diamonds  that  are  sold,  a  duty  of  two  per  cent,  is  paid 
to  the  king  of  Golconda,  who  also  derives  a  revenue 
from  the  merchants  for  permission  to  dig  in  the  mines. 

The  merchants  pay  to  the  king  at  the  rate  of  four 
pagodas  a  day  for  a  hundred  miners  employed  by 
them.  But  these  poor  people  get  no  more  than  three 
pagodas  a  year,  and  must  be  expert  in  their  business 
to  acquire  even  that.  As  their  wages  are  so  small, 
they  have  no  scruple  in  embezzling  what  they  can. 
Sometimes  they  hide  a  diamond  among  the  sand  ;  and 
sometimes,  as  they  are  entirely  naked  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  small  cloth  round  the  waist,  they  dexterously 
contrive  to  swallow  them.  The  chief  of  the  mer- 
chants one  day  pointed  out  to  me  a  miner  who  had 
worked  with  him  for  several  years,  and  who  had 
secreted  a  stone  which  weighed  a  mergelin,  being 
nearly  equal  to  two  of  our  carats.  He  had  hidden  it 
in  the  corner  of  his  eye,  from  which  it  was  taken  on 
discovering  the  theft.  To  prevent  such  knavery,  over 
every  fifty  miners  there  are  always  twelve  or  fifteen 
persons  employed  to  see  that  they  steal  nothing.  If 
they,  by  chance,  find  a  stone  that  weighs  above  seven 
or  eight  mergelins,  they  carry  it  to  the  head  miner, 
who  rewards  them  for  it. 

It  is  a  pleasing  sight  in  the  morning  to  see  the 


DIAMOND   MINES.  281 

young  children  of  the  merchants  and  others,  from  the 
age  of  ten  to  sixteen,  all  assembled  under  a  great  tree 
in  the  market  place,  each  with  a  quantity  of  diamonds 
in  a  little  bag  hung  on  one  side,  #.nd  on  the  other  a 
purse  fastened  to  his  sash,  in  which  some  have  from 
five  to  six  hundred  pagodas  of  gold.  There  they  sit 
waiting  till  some  person  comes  to  offer  them  diamonds 
for  sale.  When  anything  is  brought,  it  is  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  oldest,  who  is  regarded  as  the  chief  of 
the  band ;  he  examines  it  and  puts  it  into  the  hands  of 
the  next,  who  passes  it  to  a  third  ;  and  in  this  manner 
it  goes  on  from  one  to  another  till  it  returns  to  the 
first,  without  a  word  being  uttered  by  any  one.  He 
then  inquires  the  price  of  the  seller,  and  buys  it  if  he 
thinks  fit;  but  should  he  pay  too  much  for  it,  the  loss 
is  his  own.  When  evening  comes,  these  children 
bring  together  all  they  have  bought  in  the  course  of  the 
day,  and  after  examining  the  different  stones,  separate 
them  according  to  their  water,  weight  and  clearness ; 
then  they  affix  on  each  a  price  at  which  they  judge 
they  can  be  sold  to  strangers,  and  by  comparing  this 
with  the  cost,  they  see  what  profits  have  been  made. 
Lastly,  they  carry  them  to  some  of  the  great  diamond 
merchants  ;  they  dispose  of  them  and  divide  the  profits, 
only  the  chief  of  the  company  receives  one  quarter  per 
cent,  more  than  the  rest.  Although  so  young,  they 
are  nevertheless  such  good  judges  of  the  value  of 
stones,  that  if  one  of  them  should  purchase  anything 
on  which  he  is  willing  to  lose  half  per  cent,  there  is 
always  some  one  ready  to  give  him  the  money ;  and 
in  offering  them  a  dozen  stones,  they  seldom  fail  to 
select  four  or  five  with  some  flaw,  or  speck,  or  defect 
in  the  corners.  24* 


282  DIAMOND   MINES. 

Here  I  must  remark  the  singular  manner  in  which  the 
Hindoos,  idolaters  as  well  as  Mohammedans,  dispose  of 
any  sort  of  merchandize.  Not  a  word  is  spoken  during 
the  bargain,  but  all  passes  in  profound  silence.  The 
seller  and  buyer  sit  opposite  to  each  other  like  a  couple 
of  tailors,  and  one  of  them  opening  his  sash,  the  seller 
taking  the  right  hand  of  the  buyer,  covers  it  with  his, 
under  which,  in  the  presence  of  as  many  other  mer- 
chants as  happen  to  be  in  the  same  room,  the  bargain 
is  concluded  without  any  one  of  them  knowing  the 
terms.  The  buyer  and  seller,  making  use  of  neither 
mouth  nor  eyes,  carry  on  the  traffic  with  their  hands 
only,  which  is  done  in  the  following  manner.  When 
the  seller  takes  the  whole  of  the  buyer's  hand,  it  sig- 
nifies a  thousand ;  and  as  many  times  as  he  presses 
it,  so  many  thousand  pagodas  or  rupees  are  signified. 
When  he  takes  the  five  fingers  only,  it  signifies  five 
hundred,  and  one  finger,  one  hundred.  When  he 
takes  half  the  finger,  just  by  the  middle  joint,  he 
means  fifty,  and  the  tip  of  the  finger  goes  for  ten. 
This  is  all  the  mystery  used  by  the  Hindoos  in  their 
traffic ;  and  it  often  happens  that  at  a  place  where 
there  are  several  people  together,  one  article  is  sold 
seven  or  eight  times  without  any  one  of  the  company 
except  the  bargainers  knowing  any  thing  of  the 
matter." 

Goa  was  formerly  the  greatest  mart  in  Asia  for 
diamonds,  rubies,  sapphires,  topazes,  and  other  stones. 
To  this  place  all  the  miners  and  merchants  resorted  to 
sell  the  finest  productions  of  the  mines,  being  here  at 
full  liberty  to  dispose  of  them  as  they  pleased. 
Whereas  in  their  own  country,  upon  showing  them  to 


DIAMOND   MINES.  283 

the  king  or  prince,  they  were  compelled  to  accept 
whatever  he  chose  to  give  them.  Goa  was  also  famous 
for  the  great  trade  carried  on  in  pearls,  both  from  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  from  Ceylon. 

Since  the  diamond  mines  of  India  have  become  nearly 
exhausted,  Brazil  has  supplied  nearly  the  whole  world. 
The  stones  are  found  in  the  beds  of  rivers  in  the  district 
of  Sejuco,  which  is  better  known  as  the  "  Diamond 
District."  At  first,  the  search  was  prosecuted  by  private 
adventurers,  but  the  government  finally  monopolized 
the  business,  and  the  whole  district  was  placed  under 
peculiar  laws  and  regulations.  If  diamonds  were 
found  in  gold  washings,  the  adventurers  were  obliged 
to  abandon  the  works  to  the  government,  and  very 
severe  measures  were  adopted  to  repress  the  illicit 
search, — banishment  to  Africa,  or  imprisonment  for 
life,  with  confiscation  of  property,  being  the  punish- 
ment annexed  to  this  offence ;  but  these  severe  penal- 
ties could  not  repress  a  traffic  which  afforded  so  many 
facilities  for  evasion. 

When  Mr.  Mawe,  the  mineralogist,  visited  the 
"  Diamond  District,"  about  two  thousand  negroes 
were  employed,  divided  into  parties  of  about  two  hun- 
dred each,  under  a  sub-administrator  and  overseers. 
The  mode  pursued  was  to  turn  the  channel  of  the 
river,  in  whose  bed  the  precious  stones  were  concealed, 
and  after  removing  the  mud,  to  dig  up  the  channel  and 
remove  the  material  called  cascalho  for  washing1. 

When  a  negro  finds  a  diamond,  he  rises  up  and 
claps  his  hands,  and  one  of  the  overseers  receives  the 
gem,  all  which  are  found  during  the  day,  being  taken 
at  night  to  a  superior  officer,  who  weighs  and  regis- 


284  DIAMOND   MINES. 

ters  them.  A  negro  who  finds  a  diamond  weighing 
seventeen  and  a  half  carats  receives  his  freedom,  and 
premiums  are  given  to  the  discoverer  of  smaller  stones. 
To  prevent  collusion  and  concealment  of  diamonds, 
the  negroes,  at  a  given  signal,  remove  into  different 
troughs  several  times  in  the  course  of  the  day. 

The  diamonds  in  the  treasury  of  Sejuco  are  kept  in 
chests  under  several  locks,  the  keys  of  which  are  en- 
trusted to  different  officers,  and  are  sent  annually 
under  a  military  escort  to  Rio  Janeiro.  The  soldiers 
who  perform  this  duty  are  selected  on  account  of  their 
good  character,  and  when  not  thus  employed,  they 
are  engaged  in  protecting  the  places  which  are  known 
to  contain  precious  products.  The  journey  from 
Sejuco  to  Rio  Janeiro  occupies  about  a  month.  The 
average  quantity  of  diamonds  obtained  from  the  "Dia- 
mond District,"  when  it  was  visited  by  Mr.  Mawe, 
was  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  thousand  carats,  and 
the  total  quantity  obtained  in  Brazil  was  about  thirty 
thousand  carats.  Mr.  Mawe  was  shown  the  diamond 
treasury  at  Rio  Janeiro  which  contained  from  four  to 
five  thousand  carats.  The  largest  diamond  yet  known, 
which  weighed,  in  its  unpolished  state,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  and  a  half  carats,  was  discovered 
in  1791,  in  the  Rio  Abaite,  adjoining  the  district 
of  Sejuco.  If  estimated  at  the  standard  at  which 
smaller  diamonds  are  valued,  it  would  be  worth 
£5,644,800. 

The  Mogul  diamond  weighs  280  carats ;  the  Russian, 
195 ;  the  Austrian,  139.  The  French  cost  $600,000 ; 
the  Russian  was  the  eye  of  an  Indian  idol,  but  it  was 
stolen  and  sold  for  $400,000  and  $20,000  annuity. 


SALT    MINES.  285 

The  Austrian  was  bought  at  a  stall  as  a  piece  of  rock 
crystal.  The  largest  polished  diamond  that  is  known, 
belongs  to  one  of  the  princes  of  Borneo. 


SALT    MINES. 

SALT  is  universally  distributed  throughout  the  ocean, 
and  is  found  mixed  in  greater  or  less  quantities,  in 
almost  all  soils.  There  are  also  beds  of  rockf  salt, 
which  are  quarried  like  other  mines,  by  digging  and 
blasting.  The  mines  near  Norwich,  in  England,  have 
been  wrought  for  200  years,  and  are  probably  the 
most  productive  in  the  world.  Beside  these  mines, 
there  are  extensive  salt  springs,  where  salt  is  made  by 
evaporation.  It  is  estimated  that  363  million  pounds 
of  salt  are  used  in  Great  Britain  annually,  beside 
which,  they  export  almost  500  million  pounds  ! 

Salt  is  manufactured  along  the  maritime  shores  of 
most  countries,  from  sea  water,  by  evaporation ;  it  is 
also  procured  in  large  quantities  from  salt  springs. 
These  of  Salina,  in  New  York,  yield  about  four  mil- 
lions of  bushels  a  year,  beside  which,  there  are  other 
extensive  works  of  the  same  kind  in  the  United 
States. 

In  Spain,  near  Cardona  in  Catalonia,  is  a  mountain 
of  nearly  pure  salt,  500  feet  high,  and  three  miles  in 
circumference.  The  mineral  is  of  various  colors, 
though  generally  white.  It  is  wrought  into  vases, 
candlesticks,  and  various  toys  and  utensils.  In  differ- 


286 


SALT    MINES. 


ent  parts  of  the  world,  there  are  also  numerous  beds 
of  rock  salt,  and  in  some  places  the  earth  is  encrusted 
with  it  for  many  square  miles. 

The  salt  mines  of  Salzburg  in  Austria,  are  exten- 
sive, and  consist  of  thirty-three  chambers,  excavated 
in  a  mountain ;  some  of  them  one  over  the  other. 
The  waters  frequently  reach  into  these  apartments, 
and  then  the  men  are  obliged  to  work  naked  nine 
hours  a  day,  to  stop  the  leaks;  they  cannot  wear 
clothes,  for  they  become  impregnated  with  salt,  and 
are  as  stiff  and  hard  as  boards.  The  pay  of  the 
miners  here  is  eight  cents  a  day !  It  is  a  curious  fact 
relating  to  the  mines  in  this  quarter,  that  the  salt  rock 
grows  from  year  to  year  !  It  gains  about  three  feet  in 
forty  years.  The  excavations  of  the  mines  of  Salz- 
burg are  6,000  feet  in  length,  and  942  deep. 

The  traveller  Reynard,  who  visited  the  celebrated 
salt  mine  of  Wiebiska  near  Cracow  in  Poland,  gives 
us  the  following  account.  "  In  the  middle  of  the 
square  of  the  city  stands  a  shed,  into  which  you  enter 
and  behold  a  large  wheel  which  horses  are  turning  to 
draw  stones  out  of  the  mine.  Near  this  wheel  is  the 
mouth  of  a  large  pit  with  a  covering  of  plank  and 
timber  ;  and  here  we  began  our  descent  into  the  abyss 
having  first  been  robed  in  a  kind  of  surplice.  A  great 
number  of  ropes  and  girths  attached  to  the  main  cable 
were  set  in  motion,  one  after  the  other.  Five  or  six 
men  made  preparations  to  go  down  with  us,  and 
lighted  a  number  of.  lamps,  while  others  surrounded 
the  mouth  of  the  pit,  and  began  to  sing  that  part  of  the 
Passion  containing  the  words  Expiravit  Jesus,  and 
continued  in  the  most  frightful  tone  with  the  De  Pro- 


SALT    MINES.  287 

fund-is.  All  this  time,  I  confess  my  blood  ran  cold, 
and  I  imagined  I  saw  preparations  going  on  for  a  liv- 
ing interment.  I  wished  myself  a  thousand  miles  off, 
but  the  matter  had  gone  too  far,  and  down  I  must  go. 
One  of  the  guides  fixed  himself  on  the  lower  end 
of  the  cable  with  a  lamp  in  his  hand.  I  then  took  my 
station  on  the  girth  above  his  head.  One  of  the 
miners  placed  himself  above  me  ;  my  comrade  was 
above  him ;  another  was  over  his  head  with  a  lamp  in 
his  hand,  and  another  above  him ;  so  that  there  were 
more  than  a  dozen  of  us  fixed  on  the  cable  like  a 
string  of  beads,  in  a  posture  far  from  being  the  most 
desirable  in  the  world ;  for  we  ran  the  risk  not  only  of 
the  cable's  giving  way,  but  also  of  the  snapping  or 
slipping  of  the  girths  by  which  we  were  attached  to  it. 

We  descended  seven  hundred  feet  or  more  in  this 
manner,  and  we  at  length  found  ourselves  in  a  very 
spacious  excavation,  in  the  middle  of  which  stood  a 
chapel.  From  this  place  we  were  conducted  all  around 
through  the  mines,  by  roads  without  end,  where  they 
had  removed  the  salt  which  they  cut  out  in  large 
blocks,  one  of  which  three  horses  can  with  difficulty 
draw.  This  stone  is  of  an  ash  color,  and  sparkles  like 
diamonds.  It  is  not  very  hard,  and  the  fragments 
which  fall  off  in  cutting  are  put  into  barrels,  and  sold 
in  that  state.  It  is  salter  than  common  sea-salt,  and 
grows  white  by  being  piled  up.  They  make  a  salt  too 
of  the  water  drawn  from  the  deepest  part  of  the  mine, 
which  on  hardening,  becomes  the  whitest  and  finest 
in  the  world. 

From  this  quarry,  we  descended  to  another,  for 
there  are  seven  of  them,  one  above  another.  Near  the 


28S  ,  TIN    MINES,    &C. 

lowest,  we  found  a  rivulet  of  fresh  water,  the  best  I 
ever  drank.  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  in  the 
world,  to  behold  a  stream  of  water  issuing  from  and 
running  over  stones  of  salt  without  imbibing  the  taste 
of  it.  There  are  also  other  rivulets  here,  but  their 
waters  are  perfectly  salt.  After  having  descended  for 
two  hours,  we  at  length  reached  the  lowest  quarry, 
where  the  miners  were  at  work.  They  cut  out  for  us 
to  see,  a  stone  of  salt  which  fifty  horses  would  have 
been  unable,  to  draw ;  but  a  single  man  severed  it  from 
the  rock  with  great  ease.  When  this  mass  had  fallen, 
they  cut  it  into  round  pieces  shaped  like  a  barrel,  for 
the  convenience  of  rolling.  We  found  in  this  pit  a 
number  of  men  and  horses,  who  were  working  at 
wheels  for  the  purpose  of  raising  water.  We  travelled 
nearly  four  hours  in  this  mine,  and  were  assured  that 
so  great  is  its  extent  that  it  could  not  be  traversed  in 
every  part  in  less  than  fifteen  days.  Along  the  whole 
length  of  the  vaults,  salt  stalactites  may  be  observed 
hanging  like  icicles  from  a  rain-spout,  and  when  they 
have  grown  hard  enough  to  be  wrought,  the  miners 
work  them  into  chaplets  and  other  utensils  and  orna- 
ments." 


MINES    OF    TIN,    LEAD,    QUICK- 
SILVER,   &c. 

TIN. — This  useful  mineral  is  always  obtained  in  the 
state  of  ore.  The  chief  mines  are  those  of  Cornwall, 
in  England,  where  it  is  found  with  copper  and  lead, 


TIN    MINES,  &C.  289 

and  in  Borneo  and  the  adjacent  regions.  None  is  found 
in  the  United  States.  Considerable  quantities  are 
obtained  in  Bohemia,  Saxony  and  Silesia. 

The  tin  mines  of  Cornwall,  resemble  those  of  cop- 
per already  described.  The  annual  product  of  these, 
is  about  nine  millions  of  pounds. 

LEAD. — This  mineral  is  rarely  found  in  a  pure 
state,  being  usually  met  with  in  the  form  of  an  ore. 
It  is  found  in  a  great  variety  of  combinations  and  in 
vast  abundance. 

Great  Britain  abounds  in  this  mineral,  and  yields 
three  times  as  much  as  all  the  rest  of  Europe.  The 
mines  are  scattered  over  various  parts  of  the  kingdom, 
and  produce  about  47,000  tons,  or  nearly  100  millions 
of  pounds,  annually. 

Lead  is  found  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States, 
but  the  chief  mines  are  those  of  Missouri  and  Fever 
River,  which  yield  from  six  to  ten  millions  of  pounds 
a  year. 

MERCURY,  or  quicksilver,  is  one  of  the  most  curious 
of  minerals.  At  common  temperatures  it  is  liquid ; 
but  Pallas  saw  it  frozen  as  hard  as  tin,  the  thermome- 
ter standing  at  80°  below  zero.  It  boils  at  662°,  three 
times  the  heat  of  boiling  water.  If  placed  on  the  hand 
in  a  lump,  it  produces  a  burning  sensation,  and  if  per- 
mitted to  remain,  causes  a  blister.  Its  chief  use  is  in 
the  arts,  and  especially  in  making  gauges  of  the 
weather. 

Quicksilver  is  sometimes  found  pure,  but  it  is  usu- 
ally obtained  in  the  form  of  ore.  The  chief  mines 
now  wrought,  are  in  Spain  and  Austria;  those  of 
South  America  are  now  unproductive.  The  Spanish 
s  xviii. — 25 


290  GENERAL   REMARKS    ON    MINES. 

mines  of  Almaden,  produced,  in  1833,  2,244,000 
pounds.  About  700  persons  are  employed  in  the 
operations  under  ground,  and  200  in  separating  the 
metal  from  the  ores. 

ZINC. — This  metal  is  always  found  in  ores,  of 
which  there  are  many  varieties.  Small  quantities  are 
met  with  in  Great  Britain,  but  the  chief  sources  of 
supply  are  in  Germany  and  Belgium. 


GENERAL   REMARKS   ON   MINES. 

IT  would  be  easy  to  extend  our  account  of  mining 
operations,  and  to  present  the  reader  with  a  great 
variety  of  curious  and  interesting  particulars  ;  but  our 
space  allows  us  only  to  exhibit  the  prominent  topics 
connected  with  the  subject,  to  which  we  may  add  a 
few  curious  particulars. 

The  copper  mines  of  Cornwall,  in  England,  are  on 
an  extensive  scale,  and  nowhere  in  the  world,  do  the 
wonders  of  mining  more  forcibly  strike  the  beholder. 
One  of  the  mines,  eight  miles  from  Falmouth,  em- 
ploys 2,200  persons;  and  the  whole  country  around, 
presents  a  vast  scene  of  industry,  with  houses,  cottages, 
mining  machinery,  &c.  In  these  mines,  the  larger 
pieces  are  broken  by  women,  after  which,  they  are 
crushed  in  a  mill,  and  then  smelted. 

Near  the  Land's  End,  is  a  mine  which  was  wrought 
to  a  great  distance  under  the  sea.  The  rock  was 
blasted  within  two  feet  of  the  ocean,  which  was  ascer- 
tained by  boring  through.  When  the  waves  were 


GENERAL   REMARKS    ON   MINES.  291 

dashed  upon  the  shore  by  a  storm,  the  roar  over  head 
was  terrific. 

The  "  Levant  mine,"  which  is  still  wrought,  is  over 
a  thousand  feet  deep,  and  extends  far  under  the  bed  of 
the  ocean.  This  furnishes  copper,  iron  and  tin. 
Twelve  miles  from  this,  is  the  tin  mine  of  Huel  Vor, 
1200  feet  deep.  The  water  is  here  pumped  out  by  a 
stupendous  steam  engine  ;  the  rushing  sound  produced 
by  this  process,  reverberating  in  the  caverns  of  the 
mine,  is  said  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  appalling  to 
a  novice. 

Many  curious  superstitions  exist  among  miners; 
among  those  of  Cornwall  as  well  as  Mexico,  no  person 
is  allowed  to  whisper,  as  it  bodes  bad  luck ;  though 
any  one  may  sing  as  loud  as  he  pleases.  If  a  man  is 
killed,  they  speak  of  it  in  the  soft  phrase,  he  fell 
away.  In  some  districts,  none  of  the  miners  will 
work,  when  any  one  of  their  number  has  died,  till  the 
funeral  is  closed. 

In  the  mining  districts  of  England,  houses  are  often 
undermined,  and  one  side  sinks,  so  as  to  make  the 
buildings  seem  as  if  about  to  be  capsized;  still  the 
people  inhabit  them  till  they  tumble  upon  their  heads. 
Many  such  houses  are  to  be  met  with,  showing  how 
little  danger  is  regarded,  when  people  become  familiar 
with  it. 

A  traveller  in  Mexico  tells  us  that  in  one  of  the 
entrances  to  the  Valenciana  mine  of  Mexico,  sixty 
fathoms  down,  there  is  a  church  where  the  lamps  are 
kept  continually  lighted.  Here  the  miners  spend  half 
an  hour,  going  to  and  coming  from  their  work,  in  their 


292  GENERAL    REMARKS    ON    MINES. 

devotions,  and  in  singing.  The  same  writer  thus 
describes  the  condition  of  the  miners  : 

"  Their  houses  and  clothing  are  of  little  value  ;  the 
former  for  the  most  part  being  miserable  huts,  which 
it  would  be  no  hard  task  to  erect  in  a  single  day.  In 
families  of  seven  or  eight  individuals,  the  furniture, 
cooking  utensils,  in  short,  the  whole  contents  of  sev- 
eral huts  belonging  to  the  laboring  classes  which  we 
examined,  we  never  found  to  exceed  twenty  shillings 
in  value.  Not  one  house  in  twenty  contained  either 
knife  or  fork,  or  spoon,  and  even  in  several  whole  vil- 
lages, they  could  not  be  had.  As  for  beds,  they 
never  think  of  such  a  thing,  but  lie  down  on  the  bare 
floor  in  the  corner  of  the  hut.  The  dress  of  the  labor- 
ing man,  when  new,  would  be  thought  dear  for  six 
shillings,  and  this  he  wears  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
places,  in  the  mine  and  out  of  it,  on  Sunday  as  well 
as  every  other  day,  and  at  night  it  serves  both  for  beds 
and  bed-clothes,  until  torn  off  piece  by  piece." 

In  some  cases,  the  miners  spend  the  whole  week  in 
the  mines,  from  Monday  to  Saturday ;  and  in  others, 
families — men,  women  and  children — dwell;  here 
people  are  born  and  here  they  die ;  and  here  nearly 
the  whole  lives  of  some  persons  are  spent !  There 
are,  no  doubt,  many  thousands  to  whom  the  sun  is  a 
strange  and  unusual  sight,  and  who  might  seem  to  be 
burrowing  quadrupeds  rather  than  human  beings, 
made  to  walk  upright  in  the  light  of  heaven  and  the 
image  of  God.  Of  the  thousands,  nay  millions,  that 
have  been  made  slaves  and  forced  to  sacrifice  their 
lives  in  digging  for  silver  and  gold,  by  the  Spaniards, 
we  have  no  statistics ;  nor  will  the  misery  these  poor 


GENERAL   REMARKS    ON   MINES.  293 

creatures  have  suffered,  be  known,  till  the  reckon- 
ing of  the  judgment  day.  It  behoves  the  living 
generation  of  Christian  men,  to  see  that  a  similar 
reckoning  is  riot  reserved  for  them,  in  the  history  of 
existing  mines,  where  we  know  that  humanity  is 
reduced  to  a  state  of  almost  indescribable  misery  and 
degradation. 


25* 


WOOD-CUTTING. 

WE  have  already  seen  the  operations  of  human 
enterprise  and  art  in  fishing,  hunting  and  mining — 
out  the  forest  is  as  important  a  source  of  comfort  and 
luxury  as  any  of  these.  The  habitations  of  men,  as 
well  as  the  greater  part  of  their  furniture ;  many  of 
the  most  useful  utensils  of  refined,  as  well  as  barbar- 
ous life ;  the  canoe  of  the  savage,  and  the  ship  of  the 
civilized;  the  fuel  of  a  large  portion  of  the  human 
race ;  the  greater  part  of  the  machinery  of  manufac- 
turing countries — are  dependent  upon  the  vegetable 
productions  of  the  forest.  The  spontaneous  supply  of 
such  materials  suited  to  the  multiplied  wants  of  man. 
is  a  theme  which  may  well  excite  the  grateful  admira- 
tion of  every  reflecting  mind. 

This  subject  is  too  vast  to  be  fully  considered  here ; 
we  shall  only  attempt  to  present  one  or  two  topics, 
which,  however,  may  serve  as  an  index  to  the  whole. 

LUMBER,  TRADE  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. — The  great 
forests  of  the  continent  of  North  America  afford  the 
most  plentiful  supplies  of  timber,  from  which  not  only 
our  own  country,  but  the  British  dominions  in  Europe 
and  elsewhere,  derive  their  materials  for  ship-building 
and  other  purposes.  These  supplies,  of  course,  are 
obtained  chiefly  from  those  districts  which  lie  near  the 


WOOD-CUTTING.  295 

ocean,  as  the  labor  of  transporting  so  bulky  an  article 
to  navigable  waters,  constitutes  the  greater  part  of  the 
expense  of  obtaining  it.  Great  Britain  procures  her 
American  timber  from  Canada  and  New  Brunswick. 
The  Atlantic  states  of  the  Union  obtain  their  supplies 
chiefly  from  the  forests  of  Maine.  A  valuable  species 
of  oak  called  "  live  oak,"  is  produced  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Florida,  and  this  is  used  chiefly  in  the  con- 
struction of  our  ships  of  war.  The  State  of  North 
Carolina  furnishes  a  species  of  yellow  pine,  and  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  Hampshire  abound  with  white 
oak,  both  of  which  are  used  to  a  great  extent,  in  ship- 
building of  all  sorts. 

The  timber  procured  from  the  woods  of  Maine  and 
New  Brunswick,  is  chiefly  white  pine  and  spruce. 
The  business  of  felling  this  timber  and  bringing  it  to 
market,  is  called  "lumbering,"  the  word  "lumber" 
being  an  American  appellation  for  boards  and  timber 
in  a  rough  state.  This  business  employs  a  large 
number  of  persons,  both  English  and  American.  A 
"  lumbering  party  "  is  composed  of  a  certain  number 
of  persons  either  hired  by  a  master  lumberer,  who 
pays  them  wages  and  finds  them  provisions,  or  of 
individuals  who  enter  into  an  understanding  with  each 
other  to  have  a  joint  interest  in  the  proceeds  of  their 
labor.  The  necessary  supplies  of  provisions,  clothing 
&c.,  are  generally  obtained  from  the  merchants  on 
credit,  in  consideration  of  receiving  the  timber  which 
the  lumberers  are  to  bring  down  the  river  the  follow- 
ing summer.  The  stock  deemed  requisite  for  a  lum- 
bering party,  consists  of  axes,  a  cross-cut  saw,  cooking 
utensils,  a  cask  of  rum,  tobacco  and  pipes,  a  large 


296  WOOD-CUTTING. 

supply  of  biscuit,  pork,  beef,  fish,  pease,  &c.,  for  soup, 
with  a  cask  of  molasses  to  sweeten  the  beer  which 
they  brew  from  spruce  and  hemlock.  Two  or  three 
yoke  of  oxen,  with  sufficient  hay  to  feed  them,  are 
also  required  to  haul  the  timber  out  of  the  woods. 

When  all  is  ready,  the  lumberers  proceed  up  th« 
rivers  into  the  thickest  of  the  woods,  where  they  select 
a  favorable  spot  for  their  work,  which  is  as  near  a  stream 
of  water  as  possible.  They  begin  by  clearing  away  a 
few  of  the  surrounding  trees,  and  building  a  log  hut, 
which  is  roofed  with  bark,  and  provided  with  a  cellar 
for  lodging  such  of  their  goods  as  are  liable  to  injury 
from  the  frost.  The  fire-place  is  in  the  middle  of  the 
hut,  and  the  smoke  goes  out  through  a  hole  in  the 
roof.  Hay,  straw,  or  branches  of  trees  are  spread  on 
the  ground,  on  which  they  all  lie  down  at  night  to 
sleep,  with  their  feet  to  the  fire  which  is  kept  con- 
stantly alive.  One  person  officiates  as  cook,  whose  duty 
it  is  to  have  breakfast  ready  before  daylight,  at  which 
time  all  the  party  rise,  and  each  take  his  "  morning," 
or  the  indispensable  dram  of  spirits  before  break- 
fast. Immediately  after  this  meal,  they  divide  into 
three  "  gangs,"  one  of  which  cuts  down  the  trees,  an- 
other hews  them  and  the  third  is  employed  with  the 
oxen  in  hauling  the  timber  either  to  one  general  road 
leading  to  the  banks  of  the  nearest  stream,  or  at  once 
to  the  stream  itself.  The  whole  winter  is  thus  spent 
in  unremitting  labor.  The  ground  is  covered  with 
snow  two  or  three  feet  deep  from  the  beginning  of 
winter  till  April,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  woods  till 
nearly  the  end  of  May.  When  the  thaws  come  on  in 
April,  the  rivers  rise,  or  in  the  phrase  of  the  lumber- 


WOOD-CUTTING.  297 

ers,  the  "  freshets  come  down."  At  this  time,  all  the 
timber  cut  during  the  winter,  is  thrown  into  the  water 
and  floated  down  the  head  streams,  until  the  river 
becomes  sufficiently  wide  to  make  the  whole  collection 
into  rafts. 

The  construction  of  the  vast  masses  of  timber  float- 
ed down  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  other  great  streams 
of  North  America,  is  generally  as  follows.  The  rafts- 
men commence  by  floating  twenty  or  more  pieces  of 
timber  alongside  of  each  other,  with  the  ends  in  a 
line.  These  ends  are  then  bound  close  together  by 
placing  logs  across,  and  binding  one  log  to  another 
with  poles  and  withs.  The  size  of  the  raft  is  then 
increased  by  adding  pieces  of  timber  in  the  same  man- 
ner, until  the  whole  lot  to  be  rafted  is  joined  together 
in  one  flat  mass.  The  water  at  this  season  is  exces- 
sively cold,  yet  for  weeks  together  the  lumberers  are 
in  it  from  morning  till  night;  and  seldom  less  than 
six  weeks  elapse  from  the  time  that  the  floating  of  the 
timber  commences,  till  the  rafts  are  delivered  to  the 
merchants. 

Hardly  any  course  of  life  can  more  surely  undermine 
the  constitution,  or  be  more  injurious  to  health  than  that 
of  a  lumberer  and  raftsman.  The  winter  snow  and  frost, 
although  severe,  are  nothing  to  endure  in  comparison 
with  the  extreme  coldness  of  the  snow-water  of  the 
freshets,  in  which  he  is,  day  after  day,  wet  up  to  the 
middle,  and  often  immersed  from  head  to  foot.  The 
very  vitals  are  thus  chilled  and  sapped.  The  intense 
heat  of  a  summer  sun,  a  transition  which  almost  im- 
mediately follows,  must  further  weaken  and  reduce  the 
whole  frame,  and  premature  old  age  is  the  inevitable 


298  WOOD-CUTTING. 

fate  of  a  lumberer.  But  notwithstanding  all  the  toils 
of  such  a  pursuit,  those  who  once  adopt  this  life,  seem 
fascinated  with  it,  and  prefer  it  to  any  other.  They 
are,  in  most  respects,  as  independent  as  the  Indians. 
After  disposing  of  their  rafts,  they  pass  some  weeks  in 
idle  indulgence,  drinking,  smoking,  and  dashing  off  in 
a  long  coat,  dandy  waistcoat  and  trousers,  a  handker- 
chief of  many  colors  around  the  neck,  a  watch  with  a 
long  tinsel  chain  and  numerous  brass  seals,  and  an 
umbrella.  At  the  end  of  the  warm  season  they  throw 
off  all  this  finery,  return  to  the  woods  and  recommence 
their  laborious  occupation. 

The  American  lumber,  besides  its  domestic  uses,  is 
largely  exported  to  the  West  India  islands.  Of  the 
lumber  from  the  British  provinces,  it  is  computed  that 
the  exportation  into  Great  Britain  employs  300,000 
tons  of  shipping.  The  Americans  export  only  sound 
timber  and  boards ;  but  the  most  of  the  timber  export- 
ed by  the  British  is  in  the  shape  of  rough  logs. 

LOGWOOD-CUTTING. — Logwood  seems  to  have  been 
first  brought  to  England  soon  after  the  accession  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  but  the  various  and  beautiful  dyes  ob- 
tained from  it,  proved,  by  the  unskilfulness  of  the  dyers, 
of  so  little  durability,  that  it  soon  fell  into  disrepute, 
and  an  act  of  parliament  not  only  prohibited  the  use 
of  it,  but  authorized  the  burning  of  the  commodity 
wherever  it  should  be  found  throughout  the  realm. 
It  was  not  till  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  that  the 
discovery  of  the  method  of  fixing  the  colors  of  log- 
wood brought  it  again  into  high  esteem,  and  pro- 
cured the  repeal  of  the  prohibitions  respecting  it.  The 
best  logwood  in  the  world  is  that  of  Campeachy. 


WOOD-CUTTING.  299 

No  other  writer  has  given  so  good  a  description  of 
this  valuable  article  of  commerce,  and  the  manner  of 
procuring  it,  as  Dampier,  whose  account  we  shall  here 
copy. 

"  After  the  English  had  taken  Jamaica,  and  hegan 
to  cruise  in  this  bay,  they  found  many  barks  laden 
with  it,  but  not  knowing  its  value  then,  they  either 
set  them  adrift  or  burned  them,  saving  only  the  nails, 
and  iron  work,  a  thing  now  unusual  among  the  priva- 
teers, taking  no  notice  at  all  of  the  cargo ;  till  Captain 
James  having  taken  a  great  ship  laden  with  it,  and 
brought  her  home  to  England  to  fit  her  for  a  privateer, 
beyond  his  expectations,  sold  his  wood  at  a  great 
rate,  though  before  he  valued  it  so  little,  that  he  burn- 
ed of  it  all  his  passage  home.  After  his  return  to 
Jamaica,  the  English,  visiting  this  bay,  found  out 
the  place  where  it  grew,  and  if  they  met  no  prize  at 
sea,  they  would  return  to  Champeton  river,  where 
they  were  certain  to  find  large  piles  cut  to  their  hand, 
and  brought  to  the  seaside  ready  to  be  shipped  off. 
This  was  their  common  practice,  till  at  last  the  Span- 
iards sent  soldiers  there  to  prevent  their  depredations. 

"  But  by  this  time  the  English  knew  the  trees  as 
growing,  and  understanding  their  value,  began  to 
rummage  other  coasts  of  the  Main  in  search  of  it,  till 
according  to  their  desire  they  found  large  groves  of  it, 
first  at  Cape  Catoche,  which,  as  I  have  said  before, 
was  the  first  place  where  they  settled  to  logwood-cut- 
ting, and  loaded  many  vessels  from  thence  to  Jamaica 
and  other  places.  But  it  growing  scarce  there,  they 
found  out  the  Lagune  of  Trist  in  the  Bay  of  Cam- 
peachy,  where  they  followed  the  same  trade,  and  have 


300  WOOD-CUTTING. 

ever  since  continued  it,  even  to  the  time  of  my  being 
here.  The  land  near  the  sea  or  the  Lagunes,  is 
mangrovy,  and  always  wet,  but  at  a  little  distance 
from  it,  it  is  fast  and  firm,  and  never  overflowed  ex- 
cept in  the  wet  season.  The  soil  is  a  strong  yellow- 
ish clay,  but  the  upper  coat  or  surface  is  a  black  mould, 
though  not  deep.  Here  grow  divers  sorts  of  trees  of 
no  great  bulk  or  height.  Among  these  the  logwood 
trees  thrive  best,  and  are  very  plentiful ;  this  being  the 
most  proper  soil  for  them,  for  they  do  not  thrive  in  dry 
ground,  neither  shall  you  see  any  growing  in  rich 
black  mould.  They  are  much  like  our  white-thorn 
in  England,  but  generally  a  great  deal  bigger.  The 
rind  of  the  young  growing  branches  is  white  and 
smooth,  with  some  prickles  shooting  forth  here  and 
there,  so  that  an  Englishman  not  knowing  the  differ- 
ence, would  take  them  for  white-thorns ;  but  the  body 
and  old  branches  are  blackish ;  the  rind  rougher, 
with  few  or  no  prickles.  The  leaves  are  small  and 
shaped  like  the  common  white-thorn  leaf,  of  a  palish 
green. 

"  We  always  choose  to  cut  the  old  black-rinded  trees, 
for  these  have  less  sap,  and  require  but  little  pains  to 
chip  or  cut  it.  The  sap  is  white,  and  the  heart  red. 
The  heart  is  used  much  for  dyeing,  therefore  we  chip 
off  all  the  white  sap  till  we  come  to  the  heart,  and 
then  it  is  fit  to  be  transported  to  Europe.  After  it  has 
been  chipped  a  little  while  it  becomes  black,  and  if  it 
lies  in  the  Water  it  dyes  like  ink,  and  sometimes  it  has 
been  used  to  write  with.  Some  trees  are  five  or  six 
foot  circumference,  and  these  we  can  scarce  cut  into 
logs  small  enough  for  a  man's  burthen  without  great 


WOOD-CUTTING.  301 

labor,  and  therefore  are  forced  to  blow  them  up.  It  is 
a  very  ponderous  sort  of  wood,  and  burns  very  well, 
making  a  clear  strong-  fire,  and  very  lasting.  We 
always  harden  the  steels  of  our  fire-arms,  when  they 
are  faulty,  in  a  logwood  fire  if  we  can  get  it. 

"  The  logwood-cutters  inhabit  the  creeks  of  the  East 
and  West  Lagunes,  in  small  companies,  building  their 
huts  close  by  the  Necks'  sides,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
sea  breezes,  as  near  the  logwood  groves  as  they  can, 
removing  often  to  be  near  their  business ;  yet  when 
they  are  settled  in  a  good  open  place,  they  choose 
rather  to  go  half  a  mile  in  their  canoes  to  work,  than 
lose  that  convenience.  Though  they  build  their  huts 
bht  slightly,  yet  they  take  care  to  thatch  them  well 
with  palm,  or  palmetto  leaves,  to  prevent  the  rams 
which  are  there  very  violent,  from  soaking  in.  For 
their  bedding,  they  raise  a  barbecue,  or  wooden  frame, 
three  foot  and  a  half  above  ground  on  one  side  of  the 
house,  and  stick  up  four  stakes  at  each  corner,  one  to 
fasten  their  pavilions,  out  of  which  here  is  no  sleeping 
for  moschetoes.  Another  frame  they  raise  covered 
with  earth,  for  a  hearth  to  dress  their  victuals ;  and  a 
third  to  sit  at  when  they  eat  it. 

"  During  the  wet  season,  the  land  where  the  log- 
wood grows  is  so  overflowed,  that  they  step  from  their 
beds  into  the  water  perhaps  two  foot  deep,  and  cofT- 
tinue  standing  in  the  wet  all  day,  till  they  go  to  bed 
again ;  but  nevertheless  account  it  the  best  season  of 
the  year  for  doing  a  good  day's  labor  in.  Some  fell 
the  trees ;  ethers  saw  and  cut  them  into  convenient 
logs,  and  one  chips  off  the  sap,  and  he  is  commonly  a 
principal  man ;  and  when  a  tree  is  so  thick,  that  after 
xviu. — 26 


302  WOOD-CUTTING. 

it  has  lodged  it  remains  still  too  great  a  burthen  for 
one  man,  we  blow  it  up  with  gunpowder. 

"  The  logwood-cutters,  are  generally  sturdy  fellows, 
and  will  carry  burthens  of  three  or  four  hundred 
weight ;  but  every  man  is  left  to  his  choice  to  carry 
what  he  pleaseth ;  and  commonly,  they  agree  very 
well  about  it,  for  they  are  contented  to  labor  very 
hard.  But  when  ships  come  from  Jamaica  with  rum 
and  sugar,  they  are  too  apt  to  mis-spend  both  their 
time  and  money.  If  the  commanders  of  these  ships 
are  free,  and  treat  all  that  come  the  first  day  with 
punch,  they  will  be  much  respected,  and  every  man 
will  pay  honestly  for  what  he  drinks  afterwards.  But 
if  he  be  niggardly,  they  will  pay  him  with  thefr 
worst  wood,  and  commonly  they  have  a  stock  of  such 
laid  by  for  that  purpose.  Nay,  they  will  cheat  them 
with  hollow  wood,  filled  with  dirt  in  the  middle,  and 
both  ends  plugged  up  with  a  piece  of  the  same,  drove 
in  hard,  and  then  sawed  off  so  neatly  that  it  is  hard  to 
find  out  the  deceit.  But  if  any  man  come  to  purchase 
with  bills  payable  at  Jamaica,  they  will  be  sure  to  give 
him  their  best  wood." 

MAHOGANY. — This  is  the  wood  of  a  tree  growing  in 
the  West  Indies  and  Central  America.  There  are 
two  other  species  of  Swietena  found  in  the  East 
ladies,  but  they  are  not  much  known  in  this  country. 

The  mahogany  is  one  of  the  most  majestic  and  beau- 
tiful of  trees ;  its  trunk  is  often  forty  feet  in  length  and 
six  feet  in  diameter ;  and  it  divides  into  so  many  massy 
arms,  and  throws  the  shade  of  its  shining  green  leaves 
over  so  vast  an  extent  of  surface,  that  few  more  magnifi- 
cent objects  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  vegetable  world. 


WOOD-CUTTING.  303 

It  is  abundant  in  Cuba  and  Hayti,  and  it  used  to  be 
plentiful  in  Jamaica ;  but  in  the  latter  island,  most  of 
the  larger  trees,  at  least  in  accessible  situations,  have 
been  cut  down.  The  principal  importations  into  Great 
Britain  are  made  from  Honduras  and  Gampeachy. 
That  which  is  imported  from  the  islands  is  called 
Spanish  mahogany ;  it  is  not  so  large  as  that  from 
Honduras,  being  generally  in  logs  from  twenty  to 
twenty-six  inches  square,  and  ten  feet  long  ;  while  the 
latter  is  usually  from  two  to  four  feet  square,  and 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet  long,  but  some  logs  are  much 
larger. 

Mahogany  is  a  very  beautiful  and  valuable  species 
of  wood;  its  color  is  red  brown,  of  different  shades 
and  various  degrees  of  brightness,  sometimes  yel- 
lowish brown ;  often  very  much  veined  and  mottled, 
with  darker  shades  of  the  same  color.  The  texture  is 
uniform,  and  the  annual  rings  not  very  distinct.  It  has 
no  large  septa,  but  the  smaller  septa  are  often  very 
visible,  with  pores  between  them,  which  in  the  Hon- 
duras wood  are  generally  empty,  but  in  the  Spanish 
wood,  are  mostly  filled  with  a  whitish  substance.  It 
has  neither  taste  nor  smell,  shrinks  very  little,  and 
warps  or  twists  less  than  any  other  species  of  timber. 
It  is  very  durable  when  kept  dry,  but  does  not  last 
long  when  exposed  to  the  weather.  It  is  not  attacked 
by  worms.  Like  the  pine  tribe,  the  timber  is  best  on 
rocky  soils,  or  in  exposed  situations.  That  which  is 
most  accessible  at  Honduras,  grows  upon  moist,  low 
land,  and  is,  generally  speaking,  decidedly  inferior  to 
that  brought  from  Cuba  and  Hayti,  being  soft,  coarse 
and  spongy;  while  the  other  is  coarse-grained  and 


304  WOOD-CUTTING. 

hard,  of  a  darker  color,  and  sometimes  strongly  fig- 
ured. Honduras  mahogany,  has,  however,  the  advan- 
tage of  holding  glue  admirably  well ;  and  is,  for  this 
reason,  frequently  used  as  a  ground  on  which  to  lay 
veneers  of  the  finer  sorts. 

The  best  qualities  of  mahogany  bring  a  very  high 
price.  Not  long  since,  Messrs.  Broadwood,  the  dis- 
tinguished piano-forte  manufacturers  of  London,  gave 
the  enormous  sum  of  £3000,  for  three  logs  of  mahog- 
any. These  were  the  produce  of  a  single  tree,  each 
about  fifteen  feet  long,  and  thirty-eight  inches  square ; 
they  were  cut  into  veneers  of  eight  to  an  inch.  The 
wood  was  particularly  beautiful,  capable  of  receiving 
the  highest  polish;  and  when  polished,  reflecting  the 
light  in  the  most  varied  manner,  like  the  surface  of  a 
crystal ;  and  from  the  wavy  form  of  the  pores  offer- 
ing a  different  figure  in  whatever  direction  it  was 
viewed.  Dealers  in  mahogany  generally  introduce 
an  auger  before  buying  a  log ;  but  notwithstanding, 
they  are  seldom  able  to  decide  with  much  precision 
as  to  the  quality  of  the  wood,  so  that  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  lottery  in  the  trade.  Mahogany  was  used  in 
repairing  some  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  ships  at  Trin- 
idad, in  1597 ;  but  it  was  not  introduced  into  use  in 
England,  till  1724. 

ROSEWOOD  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  costly  of 
the  fancy  woods  ;  it  is  produced  in  Brazil,  the  Canary 
Isles,  Siam,  &c.  The  logs  often  are  twenty-two 
inches  in  thickness.  Considerable  quantities  are 
imported  into  this  country,  and  300  tons  are  annually 
sent  to  Great  Britain. 


AGRICULTUKE, 

INCLUDING  the  means  of  procuring  every  part  of  the 
produce  of  the  soil,  is  the  grand  source  of  human  sub- 
sistence ;  hence,  are  chiefly  derived  the  materials 
used  in  the  manufactures,  and  the  objects,  in  the 
exchange  of  which  commerce  consists.  The  modes  in 
which  support  is  obtained  from  land  are  hunting,  pas- 
turage and  tillage;  the  last  being  the  only  one  in 
which  labor  is  employed  directly  upon  the  ground 
itself,  is  more  especially  considered  as  agriculture. 

Tillage  is  employed  by  all  the  more  improved 
nations  as  the  most  efficacious  means  of  drawing  sub- 
sistence from  the  earth.  In  proportion  to  the  general 
improvement  which  any  people  have  attained,  is  usu- 
ally the  skill  and  diligence  with  which  this  art  is 
practised.  The  community  which  derives  its  chief 
subsistence  from  the  culture  of  the  soil,  merits  gene 
rally  the  character  of  civilized. 

The  objects  of  culture  vary  exceedingly,  and  for  the 
most  part,  according  to  the  varieties  of  soil  and  cul- 
ture. Grain,  the  main  staff  of  human  subsistence, 
forms  everywhere  the  most  extensive  and  most  impor- 
tant object  of  tillage.  Climate  chiefly  determines  the 
grain  cultivated  in  any  particular  region ;  in  the  trop- 
ical countries,  it  is  rice ;  in  the  best  parts  of  the  tern- 
T  26* 


306  AGRICULTURE. 

perate  zones,  wheat  and  barley ;  in  the  colder  tracts, 
oats  and  rye.  Of  luxuries,  wine  and  oil  are  in  the 
most  general  demand;  they  are  almost  exclusively 
confined  to  the  warmer  regions  of  the  temperate 
zones.  The  delicate  fruits  from  which  they  are  pro- 
duced, do  not  flourish  in  the  excessively  luxuriant  soil 
of  the  tropics.  Here,  however,  the  fragrant  aromatic 
plants,  and  those  filled  with  rich  and  saccharine 
juices,  produce  valuable  substances  that  are  eagerly 
sought  after  by  the  natives  of  less  genial  climates. 

Europe,  though  settled  at  a  later  period  than 
Asia  and  parts  of  Africa — though  containing  but  one 
sixteenth  part  of  the  land  surface  of  the  globe,  and 
but  about  one  fourth  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
earth,  still  presents  an  amazing  spectacle  of  wealth, 
industry  and  art,  in  its  cultivated  lands,  its  flocks  and 
herds,  and  the  annual  products  of  its  soil.  The  fol- 
lowing table,  which  may  be  regarded  as  an  approxi- 
mation to  the  truth,  is  calculated  to  excite  astonish- 
ment at  the  accumulative  power  of  man. 

Agricultural  Statistics  of  Europe. 

Cultivated  lands,     ....     100,000,000  acres. 

Arable  lands, 372,145,000      " 

Meadows  and  pastures,    .    .    150,000;000      " 

Vineyards, 12,275,000      " 

Woodlands,  .     ...     .     .     425,250,000       " 

Grain, 3,150,000,000  bushels,  annually. 

Wine, 1,709,100,000  gallons         « 

Horses  and  Mules,      .    .    .      26,417,600  owned  at  one  time. 

Cattle, 70,270,974       «  « 

Sheep, 170,577,220       "  « 

Swine, 42,974,610       "  " 

Goats, 6,513,225      «  « 


AGRICULTURE.  307 

Some  parts  of  Europe  have  been  cultivated  for  many 
centuries,  but  such  is  the  skill  of  the  husbandmen,  that 
the  oldest  lands  are  sometimes  rendered  the  most  pro- 
ductive. In  England,  especially,  the  depths  of  chemis- 
try have  been  explored,  to  discover  salts  and  gases,  which 
may  be  used  as  the  means  of  resuscitating  the  jaded 
soils ;  and  every  kingdom  of  nature  has  been  put  in  requi- 
sition to  supply  the  fructifying  principle.  Not  only  the 
bones  of  animals  are  ground  into  powder  and  scattered 
upon  the  lands,  but  even  those  of  the  heroes  who  fell 
at  Waterloo,  it  is  said,  have  been  dug  from  their  "  dread 
abode,"  and  made  to  manure  the  fields  of  Britain. 

Nor  is  even  this  all;  the  guano  fever  is  not  one  of 
the  least  curious  symptoms  of  this  insatiate  hunger 
and  thirst  of  the  exhausted  English  lands.  Guano  is 
the  excrement  of  sea  fowl,  which,  having  accumulated 
for  ages  on  certain  lonely  rocky  islands,  is  found  in 
almost  exhaustless  masses.  There  are  large  supplies 
of  this  along  the  western  coast  of  South  America,  and 
it  appears  to  have  been  used  as  a  manure  in  the  days 
of  the  Incas,  by  the  Peruvians.  Immense  quantities  of 
it  have  been  shipped  to  England ;  but  of  late,  the 
island  of  Ichaboe,  on  the  south-eastern  coast  of  Africa, 
has  been  the  chief  resort  of  English  and  American 
vessels  for  this  article.  The  following  account,  written 
by  one  from  the  scene  of  action,  is  lively  and  graphic. 

"  Here  I  am  in  the  father  of  all  dunghills,  an  enor- 
mous mass  of  birds'  manure,  called  guano,  lying  thirty 
feet  deep  on  the  island  of  Ichaboe.  Conceive  a  barren, 
desolate,  sandy  coast ;  but  so  barren,  so  desolate,  so 
sandy  !  without  a  soul,  or  a  bush,  or  a  stream  near, 
where  it  never  rains,  where  the  dew  wets  you  through, 


303  AGRICULTURE. 

where  it  is  so  cold  one  gets  the  horrors,  where  the  air 
is  so  clear,  that  one  cannot  see  the  land  till  one  is  a 
mile  or  two  off.  An  enormous  surf  beating  over  the 
shore,  rocks,  reefs,  shoals,  in  all  directions  ;  conceive 
a  barren  rock  of  an  island  off  this  coast,  to  be  covered 
to  the  depth  of  thirty  feet,  with  a  beastly  smelling-bot- 
tle sort  of  mess,  looking  like  bad  snuff  mixed  with 
rotten  kittens ;  conceive  132  ships  lying  packed 
between  this  island  and  the  aforesaid  sand  and  surf; 
fancy  132  masters  of  merchantmen,  with  132  crews, 
and  132  sets  of  laborers,  all  fighting ;  conceive  a  gale 
of  wind  on  the  top  of  all  this,  and  you  will  then  only 
have  half  an  idea  of  the  rum  place  I  have  at  last  got 
into." 

To  this  curious  account,  we  might  add  many  others, 
to  show  the  blending  of  the  great  operations  of  agri- 
culture, commerce  and  manufactures,  and  enabling  us 
to  see  how  they  mutually  aid  and  support  each  other. 
A  single  example  will  suffice.  The  article  of  flax 
seed  is  imported  into  Boston  from  Calcutta,  where  it  is 
in  part  paid  for  in  the  manufactures  of  Lowell,  spars 
and  oars  wrought  from  our  forests,  ice  from  the 
laboratory  of  our  Yankee  winter,  and  other  articles. 
Flax-seed  is  also  brought  from  Russia,  our  vessels 
taking  sugar  in  the  West  Indies  and  exchanging  the 
cargo  at  St.  Petersburg.  Flax-seed  is  also  obtained 
from  the  Mediterranean,  where  it  is  purchased  with 
raw  cotton. 

The  seed  thus  gathered  from  various  quarters  of  the 
world,  is  sent  to  some  one  of  the  mills,  of  which  there 
are  several  in  the  country,  where  the  oil,  at  the  rate  of, 
perhaps,  100,000  gallons  a  year,  is  pressed  out,  and  the 


AGRICULTURE.  309 

"  linseed  cake,"  now  almost  as  hard  as  rock,  is  ship- 
ped to  London,  where  it  is  used  in  feeding  milch 
cows  and  stalled  cattle.  Thus  the  infant  of  the  Brit- 
ish metropolis  that  takes  its  spoonful  of  milk,  lays  two 
hemispheres  under  contribution,  and  John  Bull,  in 
eating  his  beef  stake,  not  only  taxes  the  industry  of  his 
Yankee  cousins — but  makes  the  dusky  children  of 
Hindostan,  the  bearded  cerfs  of  Russia,  and  the  swarthy 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  Levant,  the  tributaries  to 
his  pleasure.  Thus  it  is,  that  humdrum  husbandry, 
viewed  in  its  thousand  ramifications,  opens  trains  of 
thought  as  wonderful  as  the  revelations  of  Aladdin's 
magic  lamp. 

We  now  proceed  to  notice  in  detail,  some  of  the 
more  remarkable  productions  of  Agriculture. 

TEA. — This  article  is  an  original  production  of 
China,  and  the  cultivation  of  it  is  still  almost  exclu- 
sively confined  to  that  country.  Attempts  have  been 
made  to  introduce  the  tea-plant  into  the  East  India 
islands,  various  parts  of  Hindostan,  and  Brazil,  but 
with  little  success,  owing,  it  appears,  to  the  difference 
of  the  climate  from  that  of  China. 

There  are  several  species  of  the  tea-plant ;  of  which 
three  principal  ones  may  be  particularized.  First  the 
song-lo,  which  grows  in  the  mountainous  district  of 
Kiang-nan.  Second,  the  vou-y,  produced  on  the  hilly 
tracts  of  Fo-kien.  The  two  are  well  known  to  us  un- 
der the  appellations  of  green  and  bohea  teas.  The 
third  species  is  the  pou-el,  and  grows  in  the  elevated 
regions  of  Yun-nan ;  but  although  this  variety  of  tea 
is  highly  esteemed  at  Pekin,  it  has  not  been  imported 
into  Europe  or  America.  In  its  general  characteris- 


310  AGRICULTURE. 

tics,  the  tea-plant  may  be  described  as  an  evergreen 
shrub,  which  grows  in  the  open  air  in  that  tract  of 
climate  comprised  between  the  equator  and  the  lati- 
tude of  45°,  but  the  most  favorable  situation  is  between 
25°  and  33°.  In  appearance  it  somewhat  resembles  a 
myrtle,  and  bears  yellow  flowers  extremely  fragrant. 
About  three  years  after  it  is  planted,  the  leaves  may 
be  plucked  for  use.  A  few  taken  off  early  in  spring, 
when  they  are  first  unfolded,  are  of  exquisitely  fine 
flavor.  At  subsequent  periods,  three  crops  are  gather- 
ed, always  diminishing  in  delicacy  of  flavor,  but  in- 
creasing in  bulk.  In  this  manner  the  black  teas  are 
separated  into  four  qualities,  peko,  souchong,  congo 
and  simple  bohea,  and  the  green  likewise  into  four, 
namely,  gunpowder,  imperial,  hyson  and  twankay ; 
the  hyson  is  subdivided  into  hyson,  young  hyson,  and 
hyson-skin. 

In  preparing  the  teas  for  market,  they  are  made  to 
pass  through  several  processes.  The  leaves  are  sep- 
arately worked  between  the  hands,  by  which  they  are 
rolled  into  the  curled  shape  in  which  they  appear  to 
us  ;  after  this  they  are  separated  into  different  lots  ac- 
cording to  quality.  They  also  undergo  two  succes- 
sive dryings,  which  in  the  case  of  the  green,  involve 
a  very  nice  operation.  The  leaves  are  placed  in  iron 
pots,  or  vases,  above  a  large  fire,  while  a  person  con- 
tinually stirs  them  with  his  hand  to  prevent  their 
scorching.  These  labors  are  performed  partly  by  the 
cultivators  of  the  tea,  and  partly  by  the  traders  who 
resort  to  the  tea-marts  at  particular  seasons  to  make 
purchases. 

Although  we  have  specified  certain  localities  for  the 


AGRICULTURE.  311 

production  of  this  plant,  yet  it  is  raised  in  greater  or 
less  abundance  in  every  province  of  China,  except  the 
extreme  north.  Until  recently  the  whole  of  the  black 
tea  was  brought  from  the  province  of  Fo-kien,  and  the 
whole  of  the  green  from  Kiang-nan ;  but  the  cultivation 
of  green  tea  for  exportation  is  now  extended  to  Tche- 
kiang,  and  that  of  black  to  Kuang.-tung,  or  Canton. 
The  Chinese  tea-merchants  generally  begin  to  arrive  in 
Canton  early  in  October,  with  the  crop  of  the  season. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  quan- 
tity of  tea  exported  from  China,  did  not  probably  ex- 
ceed thirty  millions  of  pounds.  For  above  a  century 
and  a  half,  the  sole  object  of  the  English  East  India 
Company's  trade  with  China,  was  the  importation  of 
tea  into  Great  Britain.  The  association  enjoyed  this 
trade  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  British  subjects,  and 
were  bound  from  time  to  time,  to  send  orders  for  tea, 
and  to  provide  ships  to  import  the  same,  and  always 
to  have  a  year's  consumption  in  their  warehouses. 
The  only  port  at  which  tea  could  be  admitted  into 
Great  Britain,  was  London.  The  sales  took  place 
every  three  months,  and  the  Company  was  bound  to 
sell  the  teas  to  the  highest  bidder,  provided  an  advance 
was  offered  of  one  penny  a  pound  on  the  price  at 
which  each  lot  was  put  up,  which  price  was  determin- 
ed by  adding  together  the  precise  cost  at  Canton,  and 
the  charges  of  freight,  insurance,  interest  on  capitol, 
and  other  necessary  expenses ;  but  by  the  mode  of 
calculating  these  items,  and  the  heavier  expenses  which 
always  attend  every  department  of  a  trade  monop- 
oly, the  ultimate  prices  were  greatly  enhanced.  In 
1834,  the  monopoly  of  the  East  India  Company  was 


312  AGRICULTURE. 

abolished,  and  tea  is  now  imported  by  private  mer- 
chants into  all  the  large  seaports  of  Great  Britain. 

The  tea-plant  is  to  the  Chinese  in  a  great  measure, 
both  in  culture,  trade,  and  consumption,  what  the  vine 
is  to  the  people  of  Southern  Europe;  coffee  to  the 
Arabians,  and  the  sugar  cane  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
West  Indies.  The  consumption  of  tea  in  China  is 
immense.  Every  district  generally  speaking  produces 
its  own  supply,  though  only  the  finest  teas  are  con- 
sumed by  the  wealthy.  The  exportation  from  Canton 
may  be  estimated  at  50,000,000  pounds  annually,  and 
6,500,000  pounds  are  exported  by  land  to  Russia. 
The  greatest  consumers  of  tea  out  of  China,  are  the 
English,  and  next  to  them  the  Americans.  In  Great 
Britain  are  consumed  annually  30,000,000  pounds ; 
in  the  United  States,  8,000,000;  in  France,  2,000,000; 
in  Holland,  2,800,000.  The  proportion  of  black  to 
green  tea  consumed  in  England,  is  as  5  to  1 ;  but  in 
the  United  States,  the  use  of  green  tea  is  the  greatest. 

SUGAR. — The  sugar  cane  was  first  made  known  to 
the  western  parts  of  the  world,  by  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  Strabo  relates  that  Nearchus, 
his  admiral,  found  it  in  the  East  Indies,  in  the  year 
325  before  Christ.  Varro  who  lived  B.  C.  68,  de- 
scribes sugar  as  a  fluid  pressed  from  reeds  of  a  large 
size,  sweeter  than  honey.  Dioscorides,  somewhat 
later,  says  "there  is  a  kind  of  honey  called  saccharon, 
which  is  found  in  India  and  Arabia  Felix.  It  has  the 
appearance  of  salt,  and  is  brittle  when  chewed."  He 
also  specified  its  medicinal  qualities.  Galen  pre- 
scribed it  as  a  medicine.  Pliny  mentions  Arabia  and 
India,  as  the  countries  which  produced  sugar,  and 


AGRICULTURE.  313 

there  is  the  strongest  reason  to  believe  that  the  sugar 
cane  is  an  indigenous  plant  in  some  part  of  the  East 
Indies.  Marco  Polo  relates  that  sugar  was  raised  in 
abundance  in  Bengal,  in  the  thirteenth  century ;  and 
Vasco  de  Gama  in  1497  found  a  considerable  trade  in 
the  article  at  Calicut. 

Sugar  appears  to  have  made  its  way  into  Europe 
about  the  time  of  the  crusades.  The  first  circumstan- 
tial account  of  it,  is  by  Albertus  Agnensis,  who  wrote 
about  the  year  1108.  He  informs  us  that  "  sweet 
honeyed  reeds  "  called  Zucra,  were  found  by  the  cru- 
saders growing  in  the  meadows  near  Tripoli.  These 
reeds  were  sucked  by  the  soldiers,  who  highly  relish- 
ed their  sweet  taste.  He  describes  also  the  process 
of  making  the  sugar  by  crystallization.  It  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  trace  the  progress  of  the  introduction  of  the 
cane,  and  the  manufacture  of  sugar  from  it,  into  the 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  Italy,  and  Spain ;  but 
most  authorities  agree  that  this  was  owing  to  the 
Arabs,  and  that  it  was  in  some  degree  connected  with 
the  increased  communication  between  Europe  and  the 
East,  occasioned  by  the  crusades.  The  cane  appears 
to  have  been  cultivated  first  in  the  Morea,  and  the 
island  of  Rhodes,  from  whence  it  was  introduced  suc- 
cessively into  Malta,  Sicily,  Spain,  Madeira,  and  the 
Canary  Islands.  The  sugar  cane  was  not  indigenous 
to  the  Western  continent,  but  was  carried  first  to  His- 
paniola,  by  Columbus  in  his  second  voyage  in  1493. 

The  Venetians  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  first 

sugar-refiners  in  Europe ;  but  their  original  operations 

were  made  upon  the  coarse  black  sugar  which  they 

imported  from  Egypt.    Before  the  discovery  of  Amer- 

XVIIL — 27 


314  AGRICULTURE. 

ica,  sugar  was  a  costly  luxury  in  Europe,  used  only 
on  rare  occasions.  The  rapid  increase  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  cane  in  the  fertile  islands  of  the  West 
Indies,  soon  caused  it  to  become  an  article  of  common 
use,  and  at  the  present  day  it  may  be  reckoned  among 
the  necessaries  of  life. 

The  quantity  of  sugar  produced  in  different  parts  of 
the  world  from  the  sugar  cane,  was  estimated  in  1839 
as  follows. 

Exported  into  other  Countries. 

British  Sugar  Colonies, 3,571,378  cwts. 

British  India, 519,126  « 

Danish  West  Indies, 450,000  " 

Dutch       "        "         260,060  " 

French  Sugar  Colonies, 2,160,000  " 

United  States, 900,000  " 

Brazil, •     .     .  2,400^000  « 

Spanish  West  Indies, 4,481.342  " 

Java, , 892,475  « 

For  internal  consumption  exclusive  of 
China,  India,  Siam,  Java,  and  the  United 

States, 2,446,337  « 


Total,  18,080,658  cwts. 

Besides  sugar  manufactured  from  the  cane,  a  con- 
siderable quantity  is  made  in  the  United  States,  from 
the  juice  of  the  maple  tree,  and  in  France  from  the 
sugar  beet.  The  maple  sugar,  though  of  a  delicious 
flavor,  is  coarse,  but  capable  of  being  refined  to  as 
high  a  degree  as  that  from  the  cane. 

COFFEE. — Coffee  is  a  kind  of  berry  produced  from 
shrubs,  which  bear  glossy,  sharp  pointed  leaves,  .and 
begin  to  yield  fruit  when  two  or  three  years  old.  It 
is  a  native  of  that  part  of  Arabia  called  Yemen  ;  but  it 


AGRICULTURE.  315 

is  now  very  extensively  cultivated  in  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  India,  in  Java,  the  West  Indies,  Brazil,  &c. 
We  are  ignorant  of  the  precise  period  when  it  began 
to  be  roasted,  and  the  decoction  used  as  a  drink, 
though  the  discovery  is  not  supposed  to  date  further 
back  than  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  No 
mention  of  it  is  made  by  any  ancient  writer ;  nor  by 
any  of  the  moderns  previous  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
Leouhart  Rauwolf,  a  German  physician,  is  believed  to 
be  the  first  European  who  has  taken  any  notice  of  cof- 
fee. His  work  was  published  in  1573,  but  his  account 
is  in  some  respects  inaccurate. 

A  public  coffee-house  was  opened  for  the  first  time 
in  London,  1652.  A  Turkey  merchant  of  the  name  of 
Edwards,  having  brought  with  him  from  the  Levant 
some  bags  of  coffee,  and  a  Greek  servant  accustomed  to 
prepare  it,  his  house  was  tlironged  with  visitors  to  see 
and  taste  this  new  sort  of  liquor,  and  being  desirous 
to  gratify  his  friends  without  putting  himself  to  incon- 
venience, he  allowed  his  servant  to  make  and  sell 
it  publicly.  In  consequence  of  this  permission,  the 
latter  opened  a  coffee-house  in  St.  Michael's  Alley, 
Cornhill,  on  the  spot  where  the  Virginia  Coffee-house 
now  stands. 

It  is  said  that  coffee  was  first  used  in  France,  about 
the  year  1650.  The  first  coffee-house  in  that  country 
was  opened  at  Marseilles,  1671,  and  the  next 
was  opened  at  Paris,  the  following  year.  Between 
1680  and  1690,  the  Dutch  planted  coffee-beans  they 
had  procured  from  Mocha,  in  the  vicinity  of  Batavia. 
In  1690,  they  sent  a  plant  to  Europe,  and  it  was  from 


316  AGRICULTURE. 

the  berries  of  this  that  the  first  coffee  plantations  in 
the  West  Indies  and  Surinam  were  supplied. 

The  following  tables  contain  an  estimate  of  the  an- 
nual exports  of  coffee  from  the  principal  places  where 
it  is  produced,  and  the  annual  consumption  in  those 
countries  into  which  it  is  imported. 

Exports.  Tons. 

Arabian  Ports, 10,000 

Java, 18,000 

Sumatra  and  other  parts  of  India, 8,000 

Brazil  and  Spanish  Main, 42,000 

St.  Domingo, 20,000 

Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,     . 25,000 

British  West  Indies, 11,000 

Dutch  West  Indies, 5,000 

French  Colonies, 8,000 

Total,  147,000 

Consumption.  Tons. 

Great  Britain, 10,500 

Netherlands, 40,500 

Germany  and  Baltic  Countries, .  32,000 

Southern  Europe,  Levant,  &c., 35,000 

United  States, 20,500 

Total,  138,500 

Nearly  one  fourth  of  the  whole  is  consumed  in  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  In  the  latter,  the 
consumption  is  less  than  1  Ib.  per  head  for  the  whole 
population,  in  the  former  it  is  upwards  of  3  Ibs. 

TOBACCO  derives  its  name,  according  to  some,  from 
a  province  in  Yucatan,  New  Spain,  called  Tabacca ; 
according  to  others,  from  the  island  of  Tobago ;  and 
according  to  others,  from  Tobasco  in  the  Gulf  of  Flo- 


AGRICULTURE,  317 

rida.  It  was  first  observed  in  St.  Domingo,  in  the  year 
1496,  and  was  used  freely  by  the  Spaniards  in  Yuca- 
tan, in  the  year  1520.  It  was  first  brought  to  Eng- 
land in  Elizabeth's  reign,  by  Sir  John  Hawkins ; 
though  some  assert  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Sir 
Francis  Drake  first  used  it  there.  There  is  a  curious 
tale  related  of  Sir  Walter,  in  relation  to  this  plant,  to 
the  effect — that  his  servant  saw  him  smoking  a  pipe, 
and  thinking  he  was  on  fire,  threw  a  pitcher  of  water 
on  him  to  put  him  out ! 

The  first  public  house  in  England,  where  tobacco 
was  ever  smoked,  was  at  a  little  inn  in  Islington.  It 
appears  that  it  was  much  used  in  early  days,  both  by 
men  and  women  !  Its  cultivation  in  England  was  pro- 
hibited by  Charles  the  Second,  and  a  duty  was  laid 
upon  the  import,  in  16S4.  The  plant  was  allowed  to  be 
cultivated  in  Ireland,  in  1779.  Various  statutes  were 
passed  in  relation  to  it,  and  among  the  latest  and  most 
singular,  are  those  enacted  by  the  British  parliament 
in  August,  1831,  prohibiting  its  culture  in  Ireland, 
and  another  in  1832,  by  which  all  the  tobacco  grown 
in  Ireland,  was  purchased  up  and  destroyed. 

The  amount  of  tobacco  used  in  England  in  1791, 
was  nine  millions  and  a  half  pounds.  In  1840  it  had 
reached  forty  millions. 

The  tobacco  of  Virginia  is  best  for  pipe  smoking  ; 
that  of  Maryland  for  segars ;  the  Kentucky  is  inter- 
mediate in  character;  the  Havana  tobacco,  however, 
excels  all  others  for  segars.  There  is  a  Dutch  tobacco 
known  in  the  European  market,  as  Amersfoort,  of  a 
rather  poor  quality.  There  are  some  German  varie- 
ties not  much  esteemed.  The  Manilla  and  Mexican 
27* 


318  AGRICULTURE:. 

tobacco  is  in  demand  for  cheroots^  and  the  Turkish  is 
in  some  repute ;  but  on  the  whole,  the  tobacco  of 
America  is  the  best,  and  is  most  highly  valued. 

The  composition  of  tobacco  has  been  ascertained. 
In  a  hundred  parts  there  are  88  of  water ;  bitter  ex- 
tract nearly  3 ;  lignin,  with  a  trace  of  starch,  about 
5',  albumen  and  gluten  1£;  salts,  not  quite  1  part; 
gum,  with  a  little  lime,  nearly  2;  silica,  not  quite  1 
part.  There  are  also  traces  of  some  other  substances. 
The  expressed  juice  contains  even  something  more, 
and  the  ashes  something  more. 

When  a  gentleman  is  smoking  a  segar,  he  little 
knows  how  much  of  a  chemist  he  is  ;  when  he  puffs 
forth  a  volume  of  smoke,  he  eliminates  carbonate  and 
acetate  of  ammonia,  nicotianin,  empyreumatic  oil, 
soot,  and  acids.  Tobacco  has  been  a  fruitful  source 
of  comment.  King  James  was  one  of  the  principal 
enemies  of  this  weed,  and  his  book,  called  "  The 
Counterblast  to  Tobacco,"  is  quite  famous.  Indeed, 
the  literature  of  the  subject,  if  it  may  be  so  termed, 
would  be  very  amusing.  We  have  on  the  one  hand 
high  eulogium,  and  on  the  other  severe  denunciation. 
We  find,  in  an  old  collection  of  epigrams,  the  follow- 
ing lines  on  a  tobacconist : 

"  All  dainty  meats  I  do  defie, 

Which  fat  men  feed  as  swine  : 
He  is  a  frugal  man  indeed 

That  on  a  leaf  can  dine. 
He  needs  no  napkins  for  his  hands, 

His  fingers'  ends  to  wipe, 
That  keeps  his  kitchen  in  his  box, 

And  roast  meat  in  his  pipe." 

Tobacco  is  the  principal  staple   of  Virginia    and 


AGRICULTURE.  319 

Maryland,  and  is  now  cultivated  extensively  in  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee  and  Missouri.  We  learn  that  the 
average  crop  of  Virginia  is  about  50,000  hogsheads  a 
year.  It  is  asserted  that  nearly  two  millions  of  peo- 
ple are  directly  connected  with  the  culture  of  tobacco 
in  the  United  States. — The  product  of  this  branch  of 
industry  is  estimated  in  round  numbers  at  two  millions 
of  pounds  annually.  The  value  of  our  export  of  this 
article  is  about  ten  millions  of  dollars.  It  appears 
that  there  is  a  steady  increase  in  the  demand  for  the 
article  abroad,  and  in  the  price  obtained  per  hogshead 
at  home.  The  market  among  ourselves  is  rapidly 
growing  greater,  as  the  use  of  tobacco  in  some  shape 
or  other  is  constantly  spreading  itself.  Indeed  as  we 
cannot  furnish  a  home  manufactured  segar  as  yet  of 
the  delicate  flavor  of  the  genuine  Havana,  our  imports 
from  Cuba  are  very  heavy — nearly  a  million  of  dollars 
in  value  per  annum.  The  English  Government 
receives  one  of  the  best  parts  of  its  revenue  from  the 
tobacco  imports — nearly  sixteen  millions  of  dollars  a 
year.  The  actual  duty  per  pound  is  three  shillings 
sterling,  levied  too  on  what  costs  in  this  country  only 
about  six  cents.  The  duty  on  snuff  is  six  shillings, 
and  on  segars  nine  shillings  sterling  per  pound. 

It  appears  that  the  duties  levied  on  American 
tobacco  in  Great  Britain,  in  Prussia, — where  the 
charge  is  30  cents  a  pound,  and  in  France  one  dollar 
a  pound — are  equivalent  to  thirty-two  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars  charged  upon  an  export  of  only  about 
ten  millions  of  dollars.  France  derives  by  this  means 
a  revenue  of  eleven  millions  of  dollars  a  year. 


320  AGRICULTURE, 

SILK. — Aristotle  is  the  first  Greek  writer  who  men- 
tions the  silkworm,  and  he  states  that  silk  was  first 
spun  in  the  island  of  Cos  in  the  Archipelago,  from  raw 
materials  brought  from  the  east.  Pliny  affirms  that 
the  silk  came  from  Assyria,  and  was  worked  up  by 
the  Greek  women.  It  is  highly  probable  that  silk  was 
used  in  Western  Asia  before  it  was  known  to  the 
Greeks ;  and  that  it  was  in  use  among  these  latter 
people,  long  before  they  knew  whence  the  material 
came,  or  how  it  was  produced.  Virgil,  in  the  Georgics, 
supposes  that  the  "  Seres,"  that  is,  the  Chinese,  carded 
the  silk  from  the  leaves  of  trees ;  and  Dionysius  Per- 
iegetes,  a  geographer  of  the  Augustan  age,  speaks  of 
it  as  a  vegetable  production.  Pausanias,  who  wrote 
toward  the  end  of  the  second  century,  gives  a  more 
accurate  account  of  the  substance  from  which  the 
Seres  formed  their  cloths.  "  They  have,"  says  he, 
"  a  spinning  insect  which  is  kept  in  buildings,  and 
produces  a  fine  spun  thread  which  is  wrapped  about 
its  feet." 

It  was  not  till  the  sixth  century  that  the  obscurity 
respecting  this  production  was  cleared  up.  At  this 
time,  silk  had  become  an  article  of  general  use  among 
the  Romans,  and  was  manufactured  for  them  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Tyre  and  Berytus  in  Phenicia.  The 
Persians  monopolized  the  supply  of  the  raw  material, 
and  guarded  the  trade  with  so  much  jealousy  both  by 
land  and  sea,  that  travellers  from  or  to  China,  were  not 
allowed  to  traverse  the  Persian  dominions ;  and  in  the 
time  of  Justinian,  they  entirely  stopped  the  importa- 
tion of  silk.  At  this  juncture,  two  Nestorian  monks 
of  Persia,  who  had  visited  China,  acquainted  Justinian 


AGRICULTURE.  321 

with  the  method  of  producing  silk,  and  offered  to 
travel  to  that  country  again,  and  bring  back  some  silk- 
worm's eggs.  Being  encouraged  in  this  undertaking, 
they  set  out,  and  returned  with  a  quantity  of  eggs 
concealed  in  a  hollow  cane.  These  were  brought  in 
safety  to  Constantinople,  and  hatched  by  the  heat  of 
a  dunghill.  The  worms  were  fed  with  mulberry 
leaves,  and  from  these  proceeded  the  whole  of  the 
silk  culture  and  manufacture  now  existing  in  the 
western  world. 

The  breeding  of  silkworms  in  Europe  was  for  six 
hundred  years  confined  to  the  Greeks.  In  the  twelfth 
century  the  art  made  its  way  into  Sicily,  and  a  cen- 
tury later,  into  Italy,  from  which  it  was  successively 
introduced  into  Spain  and  France.  In  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  silk  manufacture  was  attempted  in  Eng- 
land, but  without  permanent  success.  Early  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  culture  of  silk  was  introduced 
into  Georgia  and  Carolina,  but  the  business  did  not 
thrive.  Very  recently  the  attention  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  has  again  been  drawn  to  the  subject, 
and  the  silk  culture  has  been  practised  to  a  considera- 
ble extent  in  many  parts  of  the  country  ;  but  the  final 
success  of  the  experiment  is  yet  dubious. 

France,  Spain,  and  Italy  produce  most  of  the  silk 
manufactured  in  Europe.  The  silk  thread  is  reeled 
from  the  cocoons  only  in  the  countries  where  the  silk- 
worm is  produced.  In  plain  silk  weaving,  the  process 
is  much  the  same  as  in  weaving  woollen  or  linen,  but 
the  weaver  is  assisted  by  a  machine  for  the  even  dis- 
tribution of  the  warp,  which  frequently  consists  of 
8,000  separate  threads  in  a  breadth  of  twenty  inches, 
u 


322  AGRICULTURE. 

Brocade  and  damask,  the  most  sumptuous  articles  of 
silk  manufacture  a  century  ago,  are  now  compara- 
tively unknown.  Persian,  sarsnet,  gros-de-Naples, 
satin  and  levantine,  are  the  names  given  to  plain  silks 
which  vary  from  one  another  only  in  texture,  quality 
or  softness.  Satin  derives  its  lustre  from  the  great 
proportion  of  the  threads  of  the  warp  being  left  visible, 
and  the  piece  being  afterwards  passed  over  heated 
cylinders.  Other  varieties  of  silk  goods  are  produced 
by  mechanical  arrangements  in  the  loom,  such  as 
using  different  shuttles  with  threads  of  various  sub- 
stances. *The  Chinese  crapes  have  never  yet  been 
successfully  imitated,  and  they  particularly  excel  in 
the  production  of  damasks  and  flowered  satins. 

COTTON. — The  cotton  plant  grows  spontaneously  in 
the  hot  or  tropical  portions  of  the  globe.  It  derives  its 
name  from  the  Arabic  word  Koton,  and  is  one  of  the 
four  great  materials  designed  by  Providence  for 
human  clothing — flax,  wool  and  silk  being  the  other 
three.  It  is  remarkable  that  neither  of  these  useful 
articles  was  the  natural  product  of  Europe.  All  were 
indigenous  to  Asia.  Cotton  and  flax  were  also  natives 
of  Africa  and  America. 

Cotton,  which  is  the  most  important  of  these  articles 
was  the  last  to  be  generally  diffused.  Silk,  wool  and 
linen,  were  in  use  three  or  four  thousand  years  ago, 
but  cotton  was  introduced  at  a  later  date,  and  up  to  the 
time  of  our  Saviour,  was  almost  unknown  as  a  mate- 
rial for  clothing,  except  in  India.  Even  in  the  middle 
ages,  we  hear  no  mention  made  of  cotton  garments  in 
Europe.  The  Chinese,  who  have  taken  the  lead  in  so 
many  arts,  did  not  adopt  cotton  for  use  till  the  eleventh 


AGRICULTURE.  323 

century,  though,  for  four  hundred  years  previously, 
they  had  cultivated  it  as  an  ornamental  shrub  in  their 
gardens.  Even  at  the  present  day,  China  imports  the 
wool  of  this  plant  for  manufacture. 

Cotton  was  grown,  to  a  small  extent,  in  the  United 
States,  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago ;.  but  it  was  not 
extensively  introduced  till  many  years  after.  In  1786, 
Mr.  Madison,  writing  to  a  friend,  says,  "  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  United  States  will  one  day 
become  a  great  cotton  producing  country." 

In  1792,  the  whole  crop  of  the  country  was  only 
138,328  Ibs. ;  in  1795,  it  was  6,276,300  Ibs. ;  and  in 
1842,  it  was  783,221,800  Ibs. 

The  annual  average  cotton  crop  of  the  United 
States,  is  about  500  millions  of  pounds,  of  which,  about 
400  millions  is  exported  as  follows : 

Ibs. 

To  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 284,500,000 

France, 85,000.000 

Hanse  Towns, 4,000,000 

Trieste,  &c., 1,660,000 

Netherlands, 3,920,000 

Other  ports, 20,500,000 

Imports.  Ibs. 

Great  Britain, 290,000,090 

France, 80,000,000 

Hanse  Towns, 6,000,000 

Trieste, 25,000,000 

Netherlands, 10,500,000 

Brazil,  the  East  Indies,  Egypt,  &c.,  are,  after  the 
United  States,  the  countries  that  furnish  the  largest 
supplies  of  cotton.  Of  288,000,000  Ibs.  imported  into 
Great  Britain  in  1831,  219,330,000  were  from  the 


324  AGRICULTURE. 

United  States;  31,695,000  from  Brazil;  21,805,000 
from  the  East  Indies ;  7,714,000  from  Egypt;  2,401,- 
000  from  the  British  West  Indies,  &c. 

WOOL. — Next  to  cotton,  this  is  the  most  important 
material  for  human  clothing,  and  appears  to  have  been 
in  use  from  the  earliest  ages.  It  is  the  produce  of  the 
several  varieties  of  sheep,  though  some  kinds,  as  the 
Angora  and  Cashmere  wool,  are  obtained  from  goats. 
These,  however,  are  rather  of  the  nature  of  long  fine 
hair  of  a  silky  texture.  An  attempt  has  been  recently 
made  to  introduce  into  Europe  the  alapaca,  a  small 
variety  of  the  llama  .of  South  America,  which  fur- 
nishes a  species  of  wool  resembling  that  of  the  Cash- 
mere goat,  but  its  success  has  not  yet  been  deter- 
mined. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  Europe  is  estimated  at  about 
170,500,000  ;  if  we  suppose  this  to  be  half  the  num- 
ber in  the  world,  and  estimate  the  product  of  wool  to 
be  2  Ibs.  each,  a  year,  the  whole  annual  consumption  of 
mankind  is  628  millions  of  pounds,  or  less  than  one 
pound  to  each  person. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
is  estimated  at  32  millions,  and  the  wool  yielded,  may 
be  reckoned  as  about  100  millions  of  pounds  annually. 
In  addition  to  this,  there  are  imported,  each  year,  about 
35  millions  of  pounds.  This  immense  quantity  is 
absorbed  by  the  British  manufactories. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  the  United  States  is  esti- 
mated at  20  millions,  and  their  annual  product  of 
wool  at  45  millions  of  pounds. 

FLAX. — This  plant,  called  linum  in  Latin,  and 
hence  the  word  linen,  has  been  cultivated  from  the 


AGRICULTURE.  325 

earliest  periods  of  history,  for  its  fibrous  bark,  as  a 
material  for  thread  and  cloth.  The  present  consump- 
tion of  flax  is  immense,  but  we  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining  the  amount.  In  1831,  no  less  than  100 
million  pounds  of  flax  and  tow  were  imported  into  Great 
Britain,  and  almost  the  whole  was  retained  for  home 
consumption.  The  seed  of  flax  is  used  for  making  lin- 
seed oil,  and  it  is  largely  imported  for  this  purpose, 
into  our  country,  from  Eussia,  the  Mediterranean,  and 
India.  Several  oil  mills  produce  100  thousand  gal- 
lons a  year,  and  one  yields  nearly  100  gallons  a  day. 
There  are  many  other  articles  cultivated  to  an  extent 
which  may  well  excite  surprise.  If  we  reflect  that 
about 

800,000,000  of  human  beings, 

50,000,000  domesticated  horses,  asses  and  mules, 
150,000,000  domesticated  cattle. 
300,000,000  domesticated  sheep, 

80,000,000  domesticated  swine, 

12,000,000  domesticated  goats, 

are  to  be  fed,  every  day,  by  the  industry  of  man, 
we  shall  have  some  faint  conception  of  the  vast  scale 
upon  which  the  operations  of  agriculture  are  con- 
ducted. If  we  conceive  that  the  sun  in  its  daily 
course,  wakes  up  the  whole  human  race  to  their 
labors,  and  imagine  ourselves  as  accompanying  his 
morning  rays  in  their  flight  over  the  world,  we  may 
easily  fancy  the  spectacles  of  activity  we  should  wit- 
ness, on  the  hills,  and  in  the  valleys,  and  spreading 
out  from  the  arctic  to  the  antarctic  circle  ! 

That  the  reader  may  have  some  adequate  idea  of 
the  immense  extent  of  agriculture,  in  our  own  country, 
xviii.— 28 


326  AGRICULTURE. 

which  contains  but  one  fortieth  of  the  population  of 
the  globe,  we  offer  the  following  table : 

Agricultural  products  of  the  United  States  for  1843. 

Wheat, 100,310,856  bushels. 

Barley, 3,220,721         « 

Oats, 145,929,966         « 

Rye, 24,280,271         « 

Buckwheat, 7,959,410        « 

Indian  Corn, 494,618,306        « 

Potatoes, 105,756,133        « 

Hay, 15,419,807  tons. 

Flax  and  Hemp, 161,707  Ibs. 

Tobacco, 185,731,554     « 

Cotton, 747,660,090     « 

Rice, 89,879,145     « 

Silk, 315,965     " 

Sugar, 126,400,310    « 

Wine, 139.240  gallons. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  table  does  not 
include  garden  vegetables  and  a  great  variety  of  other 
products;  it  does  not  include  the  poultry,  which 
amounts  to  several  millions  of  dollars ;  nor  the  horses, 
cattle,  sheep  and  hogs,  of  which  there  are  probably  40 
millions.  We  see  that  the  grain  annually  produced 
in  our  country  amounts  to  500  millions  of  bushels  ; 
that  the  value  of  the  potato  crop  is  25  millions  of 
dollars  ;  the  hay  crop  150  millions  of  dollars  :  and  the 
Indian  corn  crop  200  millions  of  dollars !  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  whole  value  of  the  agricultural  products 
of  the  United  States,  exceeds  1000  millions  of  dollars 
a  year ! ! 


MANUFACTURES. 

THERE  is  no  branch  of  human  industry  which  so 
wonderfully  displays  the  energy,  industry  and  art  of 
man,  as  manufactures.  The  skill  required  in  hus- 
bandry, navigation,  hunting,  fishing  or  mining,  is 
insignificant  when  compared  with  that  exhibited  in  the 
diversified  products  of  spinning,  weaving,  dying,  forg- 
ing, sawing,  building,  printing,  stamping,  carving,  cast- 
ing, &c.  It  was  said  by  a  Hindoo,  in  allusion  to  the 
steam  engine,  "  These  English  are  very  cunning, — we 
Hindoos  catch  horse,  ox,  elephant,  water,  wind,  and 
make  him  all  work  ;  but  they  catch  fire  and  make  him 
work  too  !"  Thus,  not  only  the  mechanical  powers  of 
the  lever,  wedge  and  wheel,  are  made  to  aid  man  in  his 
industrial  pursuits,  but  the  very  elements  are  subjected 
to  his  sway,  and  made  to  do  his  bidding.  In  order 
to  aid  the  mind  in  forming  conceptions  of  the  extent 
of  manufactures,  we  shall  notice  separately  some  of 
the  leading  branches  of  this  kind  of  industry. 

COTTON  MANUFACTURES. — It  is  probable  that  most 
of  our  readers  have  been  into  a  cotton  factory,  for 
these  establishments  are  now  spread  over  New  Eng- 
land and  the  Middle  States.  The  scene  presented  in 
the  interior  of  one  of  them,  is  certainly  calculated  to 
impress  the  beholder  with  admiring  wonder.  The 


328  MANUFACTURES. 

ponderous  wheel  that  communicates  life  and  activity  to 
the  whole  establishment ;  the  multitude  of  bands  and 
cogs,  which  connect  the  machinery,  story  above  story  ; 
the  carding  engines,  which  seem  like  things  of  life, 
toiling  with  steadfast  energy;  the  whirring  cylin- 
ders, the  twirling  spindles,  the  clanking  looms — the 
whole  spectacle  seeming  to  present  a  magic  scene  in 
which  wood  and  iron  are  endowed  with  the  dexterity 
of  the  human  hand — and  where  complicated  machi- 
nery seems  to  be  gifted  with  intelligence — is  surely 
one  of  the  marvels  of  the  world.  It  is  only  because 
such  scenes  are  familiar  and  because  we  have  acquired 
our  knowledge  of  them  by  slow  degrees,  that  we  fail 
to  regard  them  with  unceasing  admiration. 

Nor  will  our  wonder  be  abated,  when  we  consider 
the  results  of  these  establishments.  A  single  cotton 
factory — that  of  the  Merrimack  at  Lowell — produce's 
250,000  yards  of  cotton  cloth  a  week,  or  12,500,000 
yards  a  year.  There  are  about  5000  yards  of  thread 
in  a  yard  of  cloth ;  thus  every  working  day,  this  fac- 
tory spins  600  million  feet  of  thread;  50  millions 
every  working  hour,  and  nearly  one  million  every 
minute  !  Thus,  a  cord  of  sufficient  length  to  belt  the 
world  at  the  equator,  is  produced  by  a  single  factory, 
in  three  hours.  This  is  the  work  of  one  establish- 
ment, and  is  not  more  than  a  two  hundredth  part  of 
the  whole  manufacture  of  the  United  States !  The 
length  of  thread,  drawn  out  by  the  cotton  factories  of 
the  world,  cannot  be  less  than  fifteen  millions  of  feet 
every  working  second,  or  every  time  the  heart  beats  ! 
Such  is  the  bewildering  magnitude  of  the  scale  upon 
which  this  single  branch  of  human  industry  is  con- 
ducted. 


MANUFACTURES.  329 

The  following  table  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
amazing  extent  of  the  manufactures  of  the  single  town 
of  Lowell. 

Yards  of  cloth,  produced  annually,      .    71,141,600 
Pounds  of  cotton  consumed,  ....    22,880,000 

Wages  paid, 1,800,000  dollars. 

Consumption  of  starch, 800.000  pounds. 

Flour  for  starch, 4,000       " 

Charcoal, 600,000  bushels. 

Number  of  persons  employed, 8,540 

In  these  establishments,  cotton  is  the  principal  arti- 
cle of  manufacture  ;  but  there  are  also  machine  shops, 
and  factories  devoted  to  the  production  of  calicoes, 
woollen  cloths,  flannels,  carpets,  &c.  The  print- 
works surpass  all  the  other  establishments  in  the  dis- 
play of  human  skill.  Machinery  is  so  contrived  that 
pieces  of  cloth  hundreds  of  yards  in  length,  receive 
their  figures  in  passing  rapidly  over  cylinders,  several 
colors  being  stamped  at  the  same  instant. 

Beside  the  establishments  at  Lowell,  there  are  nearly 
1000  others  in  the  United  States,  and  in  several,  1000 
pieces  of  stamped  prints,  about  28  yards  in  each,  are 
produced  every  day.  The  whole  manufacture  of 
this  article  in  the  country,  is  estimated  at  100,000 
pieces  a  week !  The  whole  value  of  the  cotton 
goods  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  annually,  is 
about  $40,000,000.  Great  Britain  consumes  363 
millions  of  pounds  of  cotton  each  year,  and  the  value 
of  her  cotton  manufactures,  is  supposed  to  be  about 
162  millions  of  dollars  annually.  Manchester  is  the 
great  seat  of  her  cotton  manufactures,  and  at  night,  the 
numerous  establishments  present  a  spectacle  like  that 
28* 


S30  MANUFACTURES. 

of  an  illuminated  city  of  palaces.  Beside  this,  there 
are  extensive  cotton  manufactories  in  France,  Nether- 
lands, Belgium,  Prussia,  &c. 

WOOLLEN  MANUFACTURES. — These  are  on  an  im- 
mense scale,  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in  Eng- 
land, France,  Belgium,  &c.  In  the  wool  factories,  we 
see  the  same  skill  of  machinery,  and  the  same  magi- 
cal results,  as  in  those  for  the  cotton  manufactures. 
The  looms,  wrought  by  steam  or  water  power,  to  pro- 
duce figured  patterns  of  cloth,  shawls,  carpets,  &c., 
display  amazing  ingenuity. 

The  annual  value  of  the  woollen  manufactures  of 
the  United  States  is  estimated  at  about  40  millions  of 
dollars ;  that  of  those  of  Great  Britain — producing 
cloths,  kerseymeres,  baizes,  flannels,  carpets,  blankets, 
&c., — at  96  millions  of  dollars;  and  of  those  of 
France  at  46  millions.  &c. 

SILK. — In  the  United  States,  the  manufacture  of 
silk  is  not  extensive,  though  it  is  increasing ;  in  Great 
Britain  it  is  considerable ;  in  France,  the  annual  value 
is  25  millions  of  dollars — a  wonderful  fact,  when  we 
consider  that  every  thread  is  spun  by  a  worm  !  Thus 
human  skill  has  not  only  made  the  elements,  and  the 
larger  beasts,  the  servants  of  man,  but  even  a  worm, 
and  that  too,  pursuing  its  own  pleasure — in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  its  destiny — is  made  to  contribute  to  the 
highest  luxuries  of  our  race.  The  waving  tissue  of 
silk,  seeming  like  woven  water — the  gorgeous  shawl, 
emulating  the  ruby  or  the  sapphire,  in  its  hue  and  its 
gloss — the  light  kerchief,  the  rich  brocade,  the  supple 
crape — these,  destined  to  add  grace  to  the  graceful 
and  become  the  pride  and  ornament  of  the  fairest  of 


MANUFACTURES.  331 

the  fair — all  are  the  product  of  that  wondrous  mechanic, 
the  silk  worm !  And  the  amount  of  toil — how  im- 
mense— how  wonderful !  Twenty-five  millions  of 
dollars,  each  year,  in  France  ;  and  this  is  but  a  small 
part  of  the  whole  produce  of  the  world  ! 

LINEN  MANUFACTURES. — The  linen  manufactures 
of  the  United  States,  are  small,  compared  with  foreign 
countries.  Those  of  Great  Britain  produce  the  value 
of  30  millions  of  dollars,  annually,  and  those  of  France, 
about  36  millions.  The  lace  of  Belgium,  chiefly 
linen,  is  valued  at  5  millions  of  dollars  annually. 

IRON  MANUFACTURES. — The  manufactures  of  iron 
have  been  greatly  extended  within  a  few  years,  owing 
to  the  increased  facility  with  which  it  is  wrought,  and 
the  new  uses  to  which  it  has  been  applied.  Though  a 
stubborn  metal,  the  blast  furnace  now  makes  it  flow 
like  water,  and  the  slitting  and  rolling  mills  work  it  as 
if  it  were  paste.  The  wonderful  skill,  and  the  amazing 
mechanical  power,  now  exerted  in  the  manufacture  of 
iron,  enable  man  to  mould  it  to  any  form  which  may 
suit  his  necessities  or  even  his  caprice.  The  Great 
Britain,  a  new  steamer,  of  3500  tons,  now  floats  upon 
the  water,  a  mighty  palace  of  iron ;  iron  is  used  in 
England  for  the  roofing  of  houses,  the  sashes  of  win- 
dows, for  posts  and  pillars  ;  and  every  year  it  is  being 
devoted  to  some  new  and  unwonted  use.  Within 
the  last  fifteen  years,  it  has  been  introduced  for  rail- 
roads, and  now,  40,000  tons  are  annually  used  for  this 
purpose  in  the  United  States ;  and  500,000  tons  in 
Europe ! 

The  amount  of  iron  annually  produced  in  the 
United  States,  is  300,000  tons,  all  of  which,  and  much 


332  MANUFACTURES. 

more,  is  consumed  in  this  country.  The  amount  of  nails 
alone  is  supposed  to  be  50,000  tons.  Forty  thousand 
casks,  or  four  million  pounds,  are  annually  made  by  the 
Boston  Co.,  on  the  mill-dam.  If  we  suppose  that  the 
nails  will  average  160  to  a  pound,  the  number  here 
produced  each  working  day,  would  be  nearly  two  mil- 
lions !  This  is  supposed  to  be  but  the  twenty-fifth 
part  of  the  nail  manufacture  of  the  United  States  !  It 
seems  incredible  that  about  50  millions  of  nails  are 
made,  bought,  sold  and  used,  every  day.  in  the  United 
States — yet  such  seems  to  be  the  fact. 

The  annual  value  of  the  iron  manufactures  of  the 
United  States  is  reckoned  at  50  millions  of  dollars ; 
in  Great  Britain  it  is  much  more,  and  iron  manufac- 
tures are  extensive  over  the  whole  continent.  The 
great  seat  of  the  iron  factories  of  England  is  Bir- 
mingham, and  it  is  amazing  to  behold  the  scene  pre- 
sented in  some  of  the  large  establishments.  The  bel- 
lows, heaving  as  if  with  the  lungs  of  a  whale  ;  the  ham- 
mers, striking  the  blows  of  giants ;  the  enormous  cyl- 
inders rolling  and  crushing  the  cold  metal  as  if  it  were 
potter's  clay  ;  and  all  taking  place  amid  the  deafening 
roar  of  machinery,  the  spattering  of  fiery  scintillations, 
and  the  glare  of  furnaces — afford  an  almost  appalling 
spectacle. 

It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  the  diversified  uses  of 
iron  ;  we  can  only  say  that  it  directly  or  indirectly 
enters  into  almost  every  article  of  comfort  and  luxury. 
The  house  in  which  we  dwell ;  the  clothes  we  wear ; 
the  food  we  devour ,  the  ship  in  which  we  sail ;  the 
vehicle  in  which  we  travel ;  the  book  we  read ;  the 
pen  with  which  we  write ;  the  spit  with  which  we 


CONCLUSION.  333 

roast ;  the  pan  in  which  we  fry ;  the  knife  and  fork 
with  which  we  eat ;  the  bed  on  which  we  lie — all,  all, 
are  more  or  less  the  gift  of  this  important  mineral. 
Iron,  indeed,  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  civilization, 
and  without  it  no  great  progress  can  be  made  in  the 
arts  and  refinements  of  life. 


We  cannot  further  extend  this  view  of  manufactures 
though  there  is  a  multitude  of  articles,  and  some  ot 
great  amount,  not  here  enumerated.  In  1837,  the 
manufactures  of  Massachusetts  alone,  amounted  to  90 
millions  of  dollars,  and  these  included  over  seventy 
different  kinds  of  productions. 


CONCLUSION. 

WE  have  not  space  to  dilate  upon  the  subjects  of 
this  volume,  further  than  to  suggest  to  the  reader,  that 
all  the  great  branches  of  human  industry  here  noticed, 
are  mutual  aids  and  supports  of  each  other.  Agricul- 
ture, mining,  hunting  and  fishing,  are  the  great  produc- 
ing powers  ;  manufactures  endow  these  products  with 
new  value  by  adapting  them  to  the  diversified  wants 
of  man,  and  commerce  transports  them  to  the  place 
where  they  are  needed.  Thus,  the  great  human  fam- 
ily are  knit  together  by  commerce,  diffusing  and  dis- 
tributing the  results  of  human  labor,  and  enabling  the 
people  of  each  clime  to  enjoy  the  luxuries  of  every 
other ! 


334  CONCLUSION. 

It  appears  to  be  one  of  the  common  vices  of  man- 
kind, for  those  engaged  in  one  pursuit  to  be  jealous  of  • 
those  engaged  in  another.  A  liberal  and  enlarged 
view  of  the  diversified  industry  of  man,  will  dissipate 
this  pernicious  error,  and  teach  us  to  see,  in  the 
adjustment  of  human  affairs,  the  same  providential 
wisdom  and  care  that  are  displayed  in  balancing  the 
powers  of  nature.  The  lone  fisherman  upon  the 
banks  of  Newfoundland,  the  adventurous  whaler  in  the 
Pacific,  the  miner  in  Sweden,  the  silk  spinner  of  Savoy, 
the  hunter  of  Siberia,  the  manufacturer  at  Lowell, 
the  merchant  of  Boston  with  his  ship  upon  the  sea, 
directly  or  indirectly  benefit  the  farmer  upon  the 
hills  of  Berkshire  ;  and  he,  in  return,  is  a  benefit  to 
them.  The  minute  history  of  the  farmer's  home,  with 
its  food,  clothing  and  utensils,  would  show  that  every 
one  of  those  we  have  enumerated  is  that  farmer's  bene- 
factor. Let  him  annihilate  the  fisherman,  and  his 
codfish  breakfast  can  be  no  more  enjoyed ;  let  him 
destroy  the  whaler,  and  his  lamp  goes  out;  let  him 
dispose  of  the  miner,  and  his  tools — his  very  knife 
and  fork — are  gone;  let  him  kill  the  silk  worm,  and 
the  silk  gown  and  ribbon,  which  please  his  wife  and 
children,  and  him  also — are  banished;  let  him  dis- 
courage the  hunter,  and  the  wife's  tippet,  with  the  boy's 
fur  cap,  must  be  dispensed  with ;  let  him  destroy 
manufactures,  and  his  facilities  for  clothing  are  de- 
stroyed ;  let  him  banish  the  merchant,  and  the  means 
by  which  he  exchanges  his  surplus  produce  for  these 
comforts,  are  gone  forever.  Even  if  he  chooses  to  live 
without  such  comforts,  let  him  annihilate  the  people  who 
produce  them,  and  his  purchasers — his  markets — are 


CONCLUSION.  335 

also  annihilated.  Let  these  abandon  their  several  em- 
ployments, and  devote  themselves  to  his,  and  the  world 
will  be  overstocked  with  agricultural  products,  while 
they  will  be  in  a  state  of  destitution  as  to  a  thousand  of 
the  common  comforts  of  life.  The  true  philosophy  is 
to  regard  the  whole  human  race,  who  hold  commercial 
intercourse,  as  one  family,  and  continually  contrib- 
uting to  each  other's  happiness.  He  who  would  sow 
the  seeds  of  jealousy  or  envy  among  them,  is  no 
friend,  but  an  enemy  to  humanity.  Such  is  the  lesson 
of  Christianity  and  political  economy. 


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GENERAL  LIBRRY    U.C.  BERKELEY 


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